Order of the Shinigami
by CrazyTeddyBear
Summary: Reports come to the Gotei 13 of a wizard who split his soul seven times, Hitsugaya is sent undercover to remove him, but things become complicated when Aizen allies himself with the dark wizard.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, this is my first attempt at a Bleach/HP crossover. I hope that I won't disappoint all of you. Here is some basic background on when this will take place, who the characters will be, etc, etc...**

**-Takes place after Aizen first betrays the soul society, so there will be spoilers up to that point, and perhaps some spoilers about character personalities and backgrounds from all over the entire series. **

**-Rukia is able to use her Zanpakuto, and Ichigo has gained control over his hollow powers**

**-For Harry Potter this is happening during the Order of the Phoenix**

**-Bleach knowledge is necessary, Harry Potter knowledge not so much since the main character will be figuring it out as well so you can just follow along with him**

**-main character will be Toshiro Hitsugaya**

**-for Bleach terms I will be using both the Japanese and English terms, sorry if this confuses anyone**

**-The Diamond Dust rebellion has happened, but it will not be a major part in the story**

**-There were major spoilers for all of the Harry Potter series and all of the Bleach anime (up until when Aizen is finally defeated)**

**Story summary: Aizen targets Hogwarts in hopes of using the wizard's knowledge of magic to aid him in defeating the Sol Society. Captain Hitsugaya Toshiro is sent to eliminate the Aizen threat, and to aid the Order in defeating Lord Voldemort so that he won't pose a threat to the Soul Society either.**

**Chapter One- An Unexpected Irritation**

**Hitsugaya POV**

I was walking through the division barracks, searching for the 'elusive' Matsumoto. Then again, she's always 'elusive' when there's work she has to do. If there was one good thing about my Lieutenant it was that she was a predictable person. Despite that fact though, I swear that if I find out that she's been drinking again I'll freeze her ass to the chair as soon as I catch her and refuse to let her get up until she's done all her work.

Eh, who am I kidding? I won't be using Hyorinmaru to freeze her to the chair. It'll go the same way it always does; I'll yell at her a bit, get her to fill out a few sheets for me, and the end up repeating the process when she finds some lame excuse to run away. That, or _I'll _leave for a few seconds to grab something and return to find out that in the five minutes I was away she had managed to get herself drunk and fall asleep on the couch.

Sometimes I really, _really _want to transfer my Lieutenant to a different squad. Every once in a while I'll go so far as to pick up the transfer forms, figuring that Captain Kyoraku wouldn't mind having Matsumoto in his squad (hell, the guy would probably worship me for putting someone with _assets_ as huge as Matsumoto's in his squad). But then Matsumoto would do something truly amazing, or I'd remember all the things we'd been through together or she's do something particularly stupid just to try and cheer me up and I'd end up throwing the papers right back into the garbage bin with a guilty feeling.

Not to mention how utterly terrifying it is to think about how much trouble Kyoraku and Matsumoto could get into without anyone to rein them in.

Oh well, I guess I'm stuck with a drunken, partying Lieutenant until the day I die. It could be worse I suppose, I could have _Yachiru _as my Lieutenant. Isn't that a scary thought?

Eventually I felt a trace of her reiatsu coming from the top of the Sokyoku Hill. The first thought that popped into my mind was, 'What the hell is she doing up there?', the second though was, 'damn... I'm going to have to climb all the way up there.'

Climbing the hill wasn't that much of a chore for someone who knew shunpo, I could basically jump up there in a few minutes, but it was still rather irritating. At least I'll get to train shunpo for a bit to get up there. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had the time. Not only that, but my reiatsu was starting to build up because I hadn't released enough of it in training. If I don't train soon and let some out then it's all going to come bursting out, and that's going to suck for the weather patterns in the soul society.

Eventually I managed to get to the top, and I was completely and utterly surprised when I got there.

I had expected to find her and a couple of other Lieutenants having a secret drinking party, or all of them passed out in a heap. Instead I found Matsumoto helping a couple of the newer recruits master some of the higher level kido spells. To say I was shocked that she was doing something that productive would be putting it mildly.

"Matsumoto-" I said, intending to tell her good work.

She cut me off, "Oh... Taicho! I'm so sorry, I know I should be doing paperwork right now instead of this, but they asked and I couldn't turn them down. They all just wanted to learn something new and train, I'll come back immediately if that's what you-"

Matsumoto was then cut off by a man- his name was Kinsai, I believe- "Greatest apologies, Hitsugaya-Taicho, but don't blame her. We asked her to help up." Everyone else nodded.

I sighed, shaking my head as a smile started coming onto my face, this was the most work I'd seen Matsumoto do in ages- why would I stop her now? "Relax, I'm not mad. I just wanted to know where you all went to. If you want to train then just tell me so I won't have to come and find you. As long as I'm here though I might as well stick around- anyone want some help with training anything? You'll be able to actually fire shots at me, and I'll be able to tell you how effective they are."

A couple of the squad members got huge, broad grins. I could tell that up until now they had been training on targets. Though effective, it was nowhere near as fun as getting to fire at a real person- especially when that person happened to be a superior who you know you can't hurt.

Matsumoto shot me a relieved look. If I had to guess then I would say that this group had asked if they could train on each other earlier, and she had said no, fearing that they didn't have the training yet to do so without causing bodily harm to each other.

I spent the perfect afternoon training with them, helping build up several things including their kido abilities, squad moral, and trust in their Captain and Lieutenant. Not to mention it helped to take away some of my ever-building reiatsu, which had been starting to get distinctly uncomfortable.

It wasn't going to be a long lasting solution- for that I needed to go train with Hyorinmaru tonight, just for a few hours on my own with no one around me so as not to freeze anyone solid. I heard Hyorinmaru growl approvingly in the back of my mind; he wanted to train, to soar in the sky with thoughts of battle in his mind.

All of the trainees called it quits, agreeing to mutual exhaustion. They started to make their way back to the Squad Ten barracks, me with them, when a Hell Butterfly appeared. Matsumoto held up her hand and it landed, reading off the message she said, "Soutaicho requests a meeting with you."

I nodded, speaking lower so the subordinates wouldn't hear I said, "You _will _finish your paperwork when you get back- won't you?" my voice became as threatening as I could make it and she gulped.

Matsumoto nodded, she would have felt my reiatsu. "Of course, Taicho." she sighed, "But it's going to take me ages to do all of it though." she whined.

"I didn't say you had to do all of it, I'll finish the rest of it when I get back, just work until I get there and we'll swap so you can go out. You did good work today." I was hoping if I tried a new technique and tried guilting her into it by being nice then maybe she would actually do some of it, as opposed to none of it.

"Oh- thank-you, Taicho! I'll get right on it!" she sped off down the hill using her shunpo.

I frowned; either that strategy just worked really well, or it worked really, really badly. I shrugged, Matsumoto was who she was. She's a big girl who can take care of herself. If she doesn't do it then I'll chew her out later.

I sped off towards the Head Captain's office.

Walking through the First Division's barracks I was once again envious of the facilities they had here; five training rooms, a couple of squad four healers posted here permanently, their own mess hall. And all inside one building, no need to go outside if it was raining. If our squad had training facilities as nice as theirs then we wouldn't be training at execution central using wooden targets that had to be replaced every two shots. It was beyond irritating how they got all the money because Old Man Yamamoto was in charge.

The door to his office (his huge, way, way overdone office) was open so I let myself in. Old Man Yamamoto was standing against the railing with another silver haired man.

The man wore the longest, most obscenely purple robes I had ever seen. They reached to his feet, and were just short enough to show a pair of worn loafers and bright green socks. He turned to look at me and I saw a pair of bright blue eyes twinkling behind a pair of half-moon glasses. His beard nearly reached his knees. Overall, he was a tall skinny old guy. I could've sworn I had seen him before, but that could just be the fact that he bore a striking resemblance to Yamamoto.

"I have a new assignment for you, Hitsugaya-Taicho." said head Captain Yamamoto, "There has been a disturbance in the world of the living that I wish for you to go deal with."

I nodded, allowing him to continue, "This man here is Albus Dumbledore, headmaster for Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry." he introduced.

The blank expression on my face must have told him that all that was completely meaningless to me. "Wizards and Witches are a species of human similar to the Bount and Quincy. They are able to perform acts of magic by channelling the power from their wands, which contain powerful objects such as phoenix feathers and dragon heartstrings."

I felt Hyorinmaru growl disapprovingly at that last part, he didn't want to know how the wizards got dragon heartstrings.

"Because of this they have a vast knowledge of fighting and technology using magic stored there, we feel Aizen may be attempting to break in and take over Hogwarts. I will be sending you there so that you can pose as a student and stop Aizen."

My eyebrow twitched. I was insulted that they wanted to go to this school as a _student. _The temperature in the room accidently dropped several degrees. As angry as I was though, I didn't complain - I would do anything to get my hands around Aizen's evil, traitorous neck so I could beat him senseless for hurting Momo.

"There is another problem at hand too, a dark wizard known as Voldemort. In his wish for immortality he has not only destroyed his own soul by splitting it seven times, but he has also damaged many innocent souls as well. He must be stopped and eliminated. That is all, Captain, I will see you at the Senkaimon in two hours. I trust you will be there in time."

"Hai," I said, bowing and leaving the room.

Damn, looks like I need to work fast.

I quickly sprinted as far away from the Seititei as I could, going into a remote forest and using shunpo so much that I burned off huge amounts of spirit energy recklessly. I needed to lower my power completely before they put the power seal on me for my mission, and I was going to have to do it fast. Normally I would have started off training with some low level kido and sword work, working my way up to my shikai and then my bankai.

I just didn't have the time for that right now.

"Bankai!" I yelled, and Hyorinmaru flared up inside of me with a satisfied roar. I felt my wings and tail grow out, fusing with my skin and becoming part of my body. Having ice become part of my body wasn't unnatural for me. It was how it should be, Hyorinmaru was another part of me- completely made of ice- and I trusted him absolutely. This form, though difficult to hold onto, was natural for us.

I spent a very satisfying twenty minutes, sending ice dragons flying and letting all my rage out about this stupid, degrading and completely useless mission. By the time I was done, all that was left of the part of the forest I was in was a huge crater filled with shattered ice and snow. Hyorinmaru growled with satisfaction as I let my bankai go.

_**Good work, that type of training is necessary too you know. In your regular training you hold back, but let's face it, you never do that in a fight. In a real battle you let all your power out so you can shatter your enemy in one fell blow.**_

_I suppose you're right. _I agreed, looking down at the destruction below me and turning to leave the forest. _But I also need to know how to preserve my strength- that method burned off almost all my energy in under twenty minutes._

_**Also true, Master. **_

I used shunpo to get back to the office, where I was surprised to find Rangikou doing paperwork. Shit, she's never going to let me live it down now that I'm the one not getting my work complete and she is.

"Matsumoto, I apologize, but I've been sent to the world of the living on a yearlong mission. I'll get Ukitake to help you out, okay?"

Matsumoto got a kind of upset look on her face, I assumed it was because of her paperwork, but then she jumped on me, giving me a hug and smothering me with her boobs of doom.

"Oh, Taicho, I'm gonna miss you so much!"

I tried to fight her off, but she had my arms pinned and I couldn't get a good kick in from this range without hurting her.

"I can't believe you're getting sent there on such short notice! Oh, make sure you write every day. I'm going to be so worried about you.

_I. Can't. Breath._

"Imagine how upset everyone will be now that you're gone. What am I going to do without you?"

I managed to get my legs up and braced against her stomach to give me some leverage. I started pushing myself away from her until her arms released with a snap and we both flew backwards, me going and slamming into the desk while she rammed into the couch.

"Taaaaaiiiiiiiiiiichoooooo... that was mean." she whined.

"Then you shouldn't have jumped on me." I said, gasping to catch my air again.

"I'm going to miss you." she sniffed, her eyes starting to mist.

"Yes, you've said that already." I said coldly.

"You don't have to be so cold."

"There are two schools of thought on that one."

She looked like she was going to jump me again, so I quickly said, "I have to run out to get some stuff and set some things up for you. I'll be back as soon as I can to help you do the paperwork. Stay right here, you're almost done!" I took off through the door, using shunpo to jump over a few roofs and get to the squad twelve barracks in less than twelve seconds.

I stopped outside of the barracks, and suddenly Hyorinmaru burst into a huge fit of raucous laughter. _You've been awfully quiet today._ I informed him, wondering what my usually talkative Zanpakuto had been thinking about.

_**I just wanted to see how today played out, I have to admit though, even I'm not stoic enough to not laugh at the things going through your mind when your little Lieutenant jumped you.**_

_You call Matsumoto little?_

_**Well some parts of her are, some parts... aren't.**_

_That's one way of putting it, I suppose._

The door to the barracks opened and Hyorinmaru fell silent as I walked inside._** This place gives me the creeps, **_he muttered and I agreed. You have no idea how many times the Captain of squad twelve has tried to knock me unconscious and drag me off for testing. It's bloody annoying that I have to constantly look over my shoulder.

Captain Kurotsuchi was not a man who I would call sane. He was a complete and total psychopath and his treatment of his daughter only served to prove that. _Everyone _was a test to him, me, her, he would probably perform tests on the head Captain too. There were days when I wanted him to try to drug Yamamoto up so I could kill him. If there was one guy who I would murder (excluding Aizen, Gin, etc.) then it would be this man. He was warped beyond all recognition.

"Why, Hitsugaya-Taicho. What a _pleasant _surprise." he leered creepily.

"Kurotsuchi-Taicho. I would like to retrieve all the things I need for my mission. I assume you have been informed?"

He nodded, but from the pinched look on his face I would guess that he hadn't been told. He walked over to a wall and grabbed a Soul Phone, some Soul candies and the spirit ink that he would draw the power seal with. I hated being at twenty percent, not because of the lack of power itself but because in order to get the tattoo on I had to let Kurotsuchi get in my personal space and draw it on. Last time he tried to secretly jab me with some needle while he was doing it, and I still don't know what kind of solution was in there. Just to be careful I let Hyorinmaru put a sheet of ice over my entire lower body and arms that were covered by my clothing, Kurotsuchi couldn't see it and be insulted, but if he tried to jab me then it wouldn't get to my skin... I hope.

He quickly and efficiently drew the seal on me while I resisted the urge to draw Hyorinmaru on him.

He only tried to drug me twice, which is definitely an improvement over last time. Eventually I was done and I got out of there as quickly as I could without appearing to turn and run away. I had to go to Ukitake's office now; I hoped he wouldn't be sleeping.

He wasn't, luckily, and I walked inside to find him reading a book. He looked up and said, "Toshiro- what a surprise. Can I help you with anything?"

Ukitake Jushiro was one of the few people who could get away with calling me by Toshiro, I had a great deal of respect for him and I liked to think our relationship came something close to friendship. "I have to go away on a mission for a year, it was sudden and I didn't have time to prepare things for Matsumoto. I was wondering is maybe you could keep an eye on her. I don't mean spend any of your time doing her work or anything, I just mean if she has a question if you could try and answer it for her since I'm not available."

"Of course, Toshiro. Matsumoto is quite capable though, I doubt I'll have to help her at all. Where are you going?" he asked.

I know it was probably meant to be a secret mission since it was sprung on me so quickly, but I figured no one was going to mind if Ukitake knew. I poured out the entire thing to him, from the hard details to my irritation at having to pretend to be a student.

He nodded at the end of it, "Don't worry. Besides, this magic stuff could make for a brand new fighting style. You'll teach me some when you get back- right?"

I nodded, happy at the idea of being the first Shinigami to master something and happy that he had asked me to teach him, "If I can. I have no idea how it works."

Ukitake smiled, "My thanks, now..." he began shuffling around in his desk, "I was planning to give you these after the Captain's meeting tomorrow, but since you obviously won't be there I'll give them to you now. He pulled out a bag of what looked to be sweets and I gulped.

"Sweets are for babies." I didn't really mean it, Ukitake always managed to get his hands on the _best _candy.

"I don't know about that. I myself enjoy sweets every once and a while. Take them, I insist, maybe you can find some other use for them."

_**Well, when he puts it like that you won't be able to resist. **_Hyorinmaru sniggered and I absentmindedly told him to shut up.

"Well, I guess if you insist... Thanks, Ukitake."

_**Told you so...**_

_Oh, shut up!_

I left Ukitake's office soon after that, heading up towards the squad four barracks after stopping really quickly at my office- Matsumoto happened to be mysteriously absent- and grabbing a suitcase. I shoved a couple of changes of clothing into it, Ukitake's sweets, the mission report that was sitting on my desk and the stuff I got from squad twelve.

I took my time packing, but then I realised I had stalled long enough. I would have to go to squad four to get one of the emergency first aid kits and while I was there I would have to do something else as well.

I would have to say goodbye to Momo.

I made my way up the hill using shunpo, but my heart wasn't really in it. I didn't want to see Momo, yeah sure, she was like a sister to me, I care a lot about her. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that Momo was unconscious and in a coma because not only had Aizen impaled her, but he had shattered her mind in the process. It was one thing to get stabbed- I've been stabbed myself, I got over it- it was another thing to get stabbed by someone you looked up to and loved while they gave you a hug and told you that they were sorry they had to do this to you. Momo would never be the same, and it was all because I wasn't strong enough to protect her.

Aizen had destroyed Momo, and because of that I was going to force him into a frozen hell for all eternity.

I walked into the squad four barracks and ran right into Unohana. She smiled that so-nice-it's-scary smile of hers and told me she would make up my kit while I went and talked to Momo. The way she said it was enough of an order that I walked to Momo's room as quickly as I could without disturbing the other patients.

As soon as I walked in I felt part of Hyorinmaru leave me. He was going to talk to Tobiume on her inner plane to figure out how Momo was doing mentally.

"Hinamori, I have to go away for a little while." I said, talking to her as if she could hear me. It was the easiest way to deal with this. "I promise I'll return as soon as I can, and if you need to contact me then ask Matsumoto or Ukitake. They can help. I hope you're healing up okay in there, I miss you Hinamori. Everything is going well out here though, hollow activity has been low. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from Aizen, but I swear I'll never let him lay a hand on you again. I have to go investigate a school of humans with superpowers- can life get any weirder? I swear, they're honest-to-God wizards, with wands and everything. Apparently I have to use a wand too. Man, if you could see me Hinamori you would tease me for all eternity."

I continued babbling uselessly at her until Unohana came into the room, silently gesturing for me to follow her.

I did so and soon we were outside, "How is Hinamori doing?" I asked.

"Her physical injuries will still take a while to heal, but she's well past the danger stage now." Unohana said softly as we walked down the hall, "As for her mental injuries, I suppose only time will tell. I am worried however- Aizen's betrayal hurt her the most."

I nodded and she handed me the supplies, everything from the green knockout fluid to bandages with healing kido attached. "Arigato, Unohana."

She nodded and sent me on my way. As soon as I got out of range of Unohana's hearing Hyorinmaru started talking. I was pretty positive I wasn't supposed to talk with Momo through Tobiume, so we were both careful about what we said around Unohana. Her Zanpakuto had ears too.

_**Tobiume says Momo is very upset naturally, but she's been doing a little bit better. It'll still take her a long while to stop being destroyed by Aizen's betrayal, and even then it'll still hurt. What Tobiume is worried about is that Momo still has bouts of denial where she still trusts Aizen and feel he must have some reason for what he did. It's these bouts she's most worried about, they're becoming less frequent, but they're still there, and when they hit her she's completely irrational. She's in major denial, Master.**_

_But she's doing better. Are there any long-lasting effects from Aizen's hypnosis?_

_**We can't tell, we can't even tell if he actually used it on her.**_

_Damn that bastard. He has to resort to manipulating little girls to get what he wants, the coward._

Hyorinmaru gave a disgusted snarl of agreement and the two of us quickly returned to the barracks. Rangikou was sitting there, and she was holding something behind her back. "Taicho! I have something for you!"

From behind her back she pulled out a small stuffed white and blue dragon. It was insultingly adorable and I was half tempted to blow it up using kido.

Instead I let my mouth fall open and Hyorinmaru laughed so hard it felt like he was pounding on the inside of my skull.

"Matsumoto... that's a toy."

_**Oh, I wish I could see the look on your face. Your thoughts are priceless.**_

She nodded happily, not understanding my concern.

"Matsumoto, I'm too old for toys."

"Oh, I don't mean it that way! I got one for me too!" she held up a stuffed lion, Haineko was not going to be impressed with that, "This is just a souvenir. Something to remember us by while when you're gone."

_**And when she puts it that way you can't turn it down without being rude! Hahahahaha... you're never going to live this down. The great Hitsugaya-Taicho, youngest to ever reach Bankai and become a captain, with a stuffed toy.**_

_Shut up. You do realise it's meant to represent you, the great ruler of the skies- right?_

Hyorinmaru fell silent. _**Damn, you think I look scarier than that- right? I have to look scarier.**_

_You do, _I said soothingly, having gotten my point across I didn't want to hear him whine until he found something else to distract himself with, _It's just Rangikou._

"Oh... arigato, Matsumoto." I took it from her and held it by one wing like it was a weapon of mass destruction before walking it over and stuffing it in the bottom of my suitcase. Hopefully no one else would ever see it and I would be able to dispose of it without insulting Matsumoto and listen to her whine about it for a month.

I looked up at the clock and realised that I had five minutes left before I had to get up to the Senkaimon gate. "Matsumoto, I have to go. Talk to Ukitake if you have any problems, or call me if you need to." I grabbed my bag and ran out of the room before she had a chance to respond.

I got up to the gate with a minute left to spare, the head Captain and that Dumbledore man were already there. "Soutaicho," I addressed him, bowing, "Headmaster." I addressed Dumbledore, remembering what Yamamoto had told me he was earlier.

"Are you prepared, Hitsugaya-Taicho?"

I nodded, not saying anything. "Where will I get a gigai?" I asked.

"You will not need one, all wizards can see ghosts." I nodded, happy that I wouldn't have to wear the annoying thing until I realised that unless I found some way to hide him I wouldn't be able to wear Hyorinmaru. And of course, hiding a metre long sword is not the easiest thing to do.

"How will I wear Hyorinmaru then? I cannot defend an entire castle from hollows and murdering wizards without using my Zanpakuto." I said pointedly.

"I believe Dumbledore-sama has a solution for that. Unsheathe your Zanpakuto." I did as he told, nervous about what he was going to do with my partner. Dumbledore muttered something under his breath and all of a sudden Hyorinmaru was nothing more than a charm bracelet in my hand, with the sole charm being a sword. I reminded me greatly of the Quincy's bracelets which contained the bow.

_**What the hell! **_Hyorinmaru roared. And the temperature in the area dropped completely low, so low that snow started falling from the sky.

"Yamamoto Soutaicho. I know that this is rude of me, but I would like to know exactly what you have done with Hyorinmaru, and the sooner you tell me, the better." my voice was icy calm, and the sky began to fill with clouds.

Dumbledore spoke for the first time, his voice cheerful, as if he was completely unaware of the danger he was in, "Ah, so you really are a Captain, the reiatsu coming from you confirms it. I had my doubts when Yamamoto said you were a genius, and with enough power to even alter the weather itself. Intriguing, but I guess we should return to the task at hand... If you would please retract some of that pressure you are emitting I will explain what I have done, and if you don't like it we will find another way." I realised I was smothering him, despite how powerful this man was he was obviously still a human soul, incapable of undergoing this kind of strain. His promise of reversing it was enough for us to get ourselves under control and fully undo the damage our spirit energy did so things were back to normal.

"Thank you," he said, "So; imagine that this is just another unreleased version of you Zanpakuto. From what I understand you are able to access three levels of power; bankai, shikai and unreleased?"

I nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

"All you have to do is give you Zanpakuto a command, different from the shikai and bankai commands, and he'll go into his unreleased form. I hear they're picky about commands though, so you might want to talk it through with him."

I nodded, and Hyorinmaru immediately gave me his wish. _**Command me to arise and rule, master, and I will obey your wishes. Now that I think of it this is actually quite a good idea.**_

I nodded at Dumbledore, "This is an acceptable idea."

He smiled and said, "Let us be on our way then. I shall explain things fuller once we are in the world of the living, as you call it."

Yamamoto gave a nod of approval. I bowed to him and followed the strange old man through the Senkaimon.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: And we're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of- ewww... I think I just threw up from overuse of cliché. You know what, never mind, forget I ever tried to write something witty. I'm going to hide in a corner from embarrassment now. If you want me to come out then you might have to leave a **_**really **_**juicy review. Oh yeah, and I forgot the disclaimer last Chapter. As much as I might want to, I don't own Hogwarts or Bleach. Damn. Anyways, let's get on with the story.**

**Also, on another note, a great deal of information on Voldemort's past came from the Harry Potter Wiki. Some kind, patient individual took the time to write out his whole story and that person wasn't me. So a great thank-you to them, because I am not nearly as well versed in the Harry Potter Universe as the Bleach universe, and I would have no doubt made dozens of mistakes without their work.**

**Chapter Two- An Amazing Lack of Foresight**

**Hitsugaya POV**

I looked around the area we had walked into. It was night time here, which wasn't surprising considering the time change. There was a small white house with the number nine on it. All of the other houses on the street were identical to it, with perfect little white fences. I frowned, the lack of colour and personality in this place was almost smothering. Didn't these people want to express any individuality at all? "Well, Captain, here we are; Privet Drive in England. This is where you will be staying until it is time for the school year to start. Let us get to somewhere more private and I shall explain further."

I nodded and followed him, looking around me I realised that if there was one place Dumbledore and I would never fit in, it would be this one. On the way through the Senkaimon I had unreleased Hyorinmaru in case we encountered any hollows as we went through the precipice area. I also just wanted to make sure I could get Hyorinmaru out quickly, I was unfamiliar with wizard 'magic' and wished to make sure that the spell Dumbledore placed on my Zanpakuto wasn't faulty.

What that basically meant was we looked like a freakily dressed old guy that looked like a giant grape and a white haired kid with a huge sword strapped to his back. Not the most subtle thing, I know. If Soi Fon found out I was being this inconspicuous she's have my head on the platter- the stealth force Captain was picky when it came to picking out disguises, and in her mind wearing no disguise at all was equivalent to wandering around nude.

I followed Dumbledore around the back of the houses to a trap door hidden under a bush he flipped it open silently and we crawled inside. The room underneath was impossibly large, about the same size as my office. I would have bet money it was made magically because there was no other way this could have been built without destroying the basements of the surrounding houses. We walked over to a pair of cushy armchairs and he gestured for me to sit down.

He flicked his wand and a mug of what looked suspiciously like beer fell into his hand, "Would you like a butter beer, Hitsugaya? Perhaps some sherbet lemons?"

I shook my head.

He shrugged, and took a swig of the mug before speaking, "I'm going to assume that you have some questions for me, Captain Hitsugaya."

_**No shit, Sherlock. **_I heard Hyorinmaru snort, _**This guy really looks like a bit of a fruit to me.**_

"Yes, I'd like to know the history of what happened with this Voldemort man in the wizarding world." If I was going to fight the guy then I needed to know everything about him; his followers, his fighting style, the way he split his soul, even how old he was. Everything that can possibly be known. "I need to know every single detail possible about him." I subtly reached into a pocket that contained a small tape recorder, flipping it on. It would be easier for me to just send it to Yamamoto rather than write out the entire conversation for a report.

"Ah... Lord Voldemort, also known as _He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who_ or as the _Dark Lord. _As a child he was known as Tom Riddle, but he rejected that name because of his muggle heritage."

"Muggle?" I interjected.

"A person with no magical abilities. Tom Riddle's father was a muggle, his mother a weak witch. His family was a disgrace to him, so he hides it. One of Voldemort's greatest beliefs is that only pureblood wizards should be allowed to exist. Mudbloods, as he called anyone who wasn't a pureblood, deserved to die. This is his organization's- also known as the Death Eaters- strongest belief."

I nodded, taking this in easily. The Voldemort man was your usual hypocritical disgrace, and most likely to be an easy enemy.

"I first ran into Riddle at a muggle orphanage. He was a peculiar child, even for a wizard. He did have some grasp on his abilities beyond that of normal magical children of his same age, however, as well as an unusually high degree of control over them. Tom could move objects with his mind and cause them to travel floating wherever he wished, manipulate animals and creatures as he wished, speak Parseltongue, which is the ability to talk to snakes, and use his power to inflict harm on other orphans. After getting into a fight with one boy, he used his powers to hang the boy's rabbit from the rafters. On one occasion, he took two orphans, Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson, into a cave, where he performed an act so horrifying that the two orphans were traumatised into silence. Young Tom Riddle also stole from fellow orphans and hid their possessions in his cupboard like trophies. I pushed it all down to the fact that he had had a hard life, teased and bullied by everyone else I assumed that lashing out was a natural habit for him and that I would be able to teach him to do otherwise. I forced him to return his stolen objects to the other children and leave a written apology for them. I realise now that that could have only provoked his hatred for muggles further, but I didn't know who he would grow into."

_**How can you not see a kid like that and think that something is wrong? **_Hyorinmaru asked in my mind, _**I watched children from your village throw stones at you, tease you, bully you. Yet you never laid a hand on them. The reaction of a child is to cower, not to lash out. Tom Riddle was obviously not a normal child- he was a monster.**_

"I took him to Hogwarts, hoping to teach him how to become a kind hearted young man. He was a model student- poor, yet brilliant, and a Prefect. He made few friends, but didn't obviously provoke anyone, so I assumed that it was just because he was quiet. He was a favourite of many teachers, particularly Horace Slughorn if I recall. He was chosen into the Slytherin house."

"The what?"

"Students of Hogwarts get sorted into four houses; Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. They are similar to your squads, they eat together, learn together, hold competitions and live together."

I nodded and he continued his story.

"Riddle had gathered himself a gang of Slytherin thugs, a motley composition of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty, most of which would become the first Death Eaters. Riddle claimed they were his friends, and would make it appear so in public, but in truth, he cares very little for them, using them as servants. He manipulated them to do his darker deeds in discreet manners, which led to nasty incidents that were never connected to them."

_**Lovely child. He sounds just like our old friend Gin. How did this man not notice?**_

_Tell me about it, I'm really starting to doubt this Dumbledore fellow's opinion. Unless absolutely necessary I will __not __be trusting his judgment._

"Tom became obsessed with his heritage and began researching it with an insatiable hunger. He learned of his Slytherin ancestry, discovered the existence of the Chamber of Secrets under Hogwarts, and tamed the basilisk which dwelt within. As the Heir of Slytherin through his mother's family, Tom was able to open the Chamber Slytherin had left behind in order to "purge the school of all those who are unworthy to study magic" — in Tom and Slytherins' eyes, Muggle-borns"

_**Lovely family too, why wouldn't you want to trust this Tom guy? He even has a pet basilisk.**_

_Oh, If I had to give a reason I would probably bring up his hypocrisy, manipulative behaviour and homicidal tendencies. But I'm sure those are all little things compared to how wonderful a student he was._

In the back of my mind I heard Hyorinmaru give a very undignified snort.

"The basilisk injured many at Hogwarts in 1943. The last victim was a student named Myrtle, who was killed in the girls' bathroom when she saw the basilisk's yellow eyes. Hogwarts was to be closed, but Tom did not want to return to the orphanage. During that year, he even made a special request that Headmaster Dippet would allow him to stay at school over the summer break. To keep the school from shutting down, he framed fellow student Rubeus Hagrid and his pet Acromantula, Aragog. Tom convinced then-Headmaster Armando Dippet that Aragog was the monster that had terrorised the school. Hagrid was expelled, and Tom received an engraved trophy for Special Services to the School."

_**See, he even commits the acts of a good, publicly aware citizen by catching criminals.**_

_Yes, he's a real role model. Someone I really want to be like when I grow up._

Hyorinmaru burst out laughing, I gave him a questioning tone and he said, _**You just said 'when I grow up' and admitted you're not grown up yet.**_

_Oh, shut up, Hyorinmaru._

"It was in Hogwarts that he discovered how to create a horucrux, splitting his soul not once, but seven times. A couple of these soul fragments have been destroyed, but many are still left to go."

"So if I fight him I have to kill him seven times?"

_**Great. I hate it when this happens.**_

_You mean this has happened before?_

_**Well, not exactly, but you get what I mean.**_

"Not quite, it takes him years to get a good body after he dies. A more practical solution would be to purify all of the horucruxes and then attempt to kill Voldemort."

"How are they made?"

"By killing someone and using the energy from their death to split a soul."

I frowned, "I believe it may be a little more complicated than that."

Dumbledore turned to look at me, a look of surprise upon his face, "What do you mean?"

"You can't truly split a soul. That would destroy the chain of fate and immediately turn it into a hollow. I believe that Voldemort is splitting the soul of the person he killed and his own, meshing the two together to create two new whole souls that belong to him. He can then jump back and forth from soul to soul, so if one gets sent on to the Soul Society then he has another to fall back on. He would have to place the souls in objects with some kind of binding spell so as not to damage them, and so that he could stop the process of hollowfication. I'm not sure about this, but if I ask Urahara Kisuke he might be able to get us something to track them with. The binding spells would have to be very, very similar to our kido and I might be able to track that."

Dumbledore looked impressed, "Yes, that's a very, very good idea."

"Anyways, what do you know of the horucruxes current locations. Which ones have been destroyed?"

"Only one has been destroyed so far. It was a diary, Harry Potter stabbed it with the basilisk's fang to reclose the chamber of secrets. As for three the others, I have a sneaking suspicion that they are all heirlooms relating to Hogwarts. There was no place Voldemort loved than our school. He also has a snake know as Nagini, I assume she is one as well. As for the last one, well, who knows? It could be anything deemed important enough by him."

"And who is this Harry Potter person?"

"I'm getting there. In the 1970s, Lord Voldemort, as he was now exclusively called, had gathered a following of witches and wizards who called themselves, collectively, Death Eaters. Some were supportive of his cause to dominate Muggles and Muggle-borns, others were greedy for power, and yet others joined the Dark Lord out of fear. Voldemort considered them more like servants than friends or family. They freely used the Unforgivable Curses and killed mercilessly and indiscriminately. It was all out war, I founded an organization called the Order of the Phoenix and we began to fight him."

_**So basically he got a bunch of other people to do the dirty work.**_

_Who? Dumbledore or Voldemort?_

_**Both.**_

"It was the height of the war, and our divination teacher- Professor Trelawney- gave a prophecy of the child who would kill Voldemort."

"What did the prophecy say, word for word?"

"Let's see... '_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…And the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..._' that was about it."

"And who did this prophecy pertain to?" I asked, sceptical. I had been alive for quite some time, and I had never seen anything like that come true.

_**What about the heavenly guardian thing?**_

_I'm still sure that's complete and total bull shit, and until someone brings me some decent proof I'll continue believing it's all useless myth._

"Harry Potter. The Potters went into hiding, but were betrayed by their friend and Secret-Keeper, Peter Pettigrew. Voldemort murdered James and Lily, but when he used the Killing Curse on Harry, it rebounded and destroyed his powers. This happened because Lily sacrificed herself to protect her son, creating a powerful defence of ancient magic around Harry which will continue to protect him as long as he lives in his Aunt and Uncle's house. That happens to be the house right above us, by the way. Most of the wizarding world believed Voldemort was dead."

"But because of his Horucruxes he wasn't. How did his body reform?"

"There were several failed attempts, but his body reformed last year. It all started with Pettigrew luring Ministry official Bertha Jorkins to Lord Voldemort in his forest hideout in Albania. He used magic to glean information about the Triwizard Tournament- an event at Hogwarts- from Jorkins. Before killing her, Voldemort was surprised to find that someone else had put a Memory Charm on her and interrogated her to find the whereabouts of a loyal Death Eater, Barty Crouch Jr., who had been imprisoned in Azkaban and was thought to be dead. Voldemort uncovered that Barty Crouch Sr. was concealing his son at his home after helping him escape prison. Jorkins had stumbled upon Barty Jr. at his house, and Crouch Sr. placed a Memory Charm on her so that she would not report it."

"Who is this Barty Crouch- both of them."

"One is the former leader for the former head of the department of law enforcement, and the other is a former Death Eater. While we're discussing politics the current Minister for magic is Cornelius Fudge."

_**Okkayyy... so apparently we can't trust the government either.**_

Dumbledore continued speaking, "With that information he ordered Crouch Jr. to capture Alastor Moody, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts. Crouch Jr. and Peter Pettigrew did so, and created Polyjuice Potion which Crouch Jr. used to impersonate Moody for the entire school year. He influenced the Tournament for months, ensuring that Harry would be the one to get to the Triwizard Cup first which, unbeknownst to anyone, was a Portkey. Harry, in the spirit of sportsmanship, requested Cedric Diggory to tie with him for the win. When they both touched the Portkey, they were transported to a cemetery in Little Hangleton where Wormtail and Voldemort were waiting. Pettigrew murdered Cedric with the Killing Curse and used Harry's blood in a Potion for his master's rebirth."

_**Damn, that has to really suck for the poor kid. I would hate to end up part of a brew o' psychopath. He probably feels Diggory's death is all his fault too, and if he looks up to Dumbledore then Dumbledore's ignoring won't help him.**_

_This all sounds like something Captain Kurotsuchi would think up, actually. We've even got the fake bodies and things to transport you to a lab._

"Potter was able to duel Voldemort and escape alive to bring me the news. However we've reached some problems letting the world know. The ministry refuses to believe that Voldemort is back because it would be political suicide for them, and since the ministry controls all of the media except for a few magazines the rest of the world believes that too. Both I and Harry Potter are considered completely and utterly crazy because of them, so we've been unable to prepare the world for the upcoming war. It will be complete and utter chaos when things break out. We have a chance for progress to defend against Voldemort, but with the ministry's behaviour that's just not going to happen."

I rubbed my forehead. This was an absolute mess. "I assume you've found ways to help the few that do believe you prepare."

Dumbledore just frowned and looked at the ground. "We've been more concerned with getting the ministry to accept our story."

My mouth fell open in shock, "Are seriously saying that you haven't! Look, Dumbledore, the fact is that the ministry is a lost cause if you're just going to keep rambling on about it. They will continue to do what is best for their reputation because that's what politicians do."

I had seen more than my fair share of political behaviour in Central 46. They were completely ruthless, the Kusaka thing proved that to me. Neither of us cared that we wielded twin Zanpakuto, and yet they made us kill each other anyways just for the sake of tradition. After that my plan for dealing with all politicians was simple; ignore them. They're not on my level, so I don't have to pay any attention to them. As much as I hate to admit it the first feeling I had after getting over the shock of seeing all of the Central 46 murdered was satisfaction that someone finally took the group of sociopaths out. Yamamoto was perfectly capable of ruling the soul society in my opinion. There's no need for paper shuffling idiots who never go into the real world.

"What you need to do is work around them, create your own magazine with all the pertinent information that's accessible to the public that need it. It won't take up that much of your time to do it, and it could help a lot of people. Also, you need _proof. _The word of a boy is not going to be enough for the wizarding world. You need undeniable proof that everything that's going on is real. You don't have that right now. If I were you then I would find an activated horucrux to use. Show it to the ministry then have me destroy it. It will be undeniable proof to them and you could begin preparing the world for the upcoming war."

"I'll see what I can do."

I shook my head, "That isn't good enough. You need to do _something, _Dumbledore, or else your whole world is going to go up in flames."

_**From what I've heard this man has done a good enough job of making that happen already. **_Hyorinmaru murmured, _**He is only pretending to be a strong leader Master. Deep down I'll bet he's as selfish and self concerned as any paper shuffler. Ask him how much this boy, Harry Potter, knows. I would bet money that Dumbledore is using him as a pawn and he knows absolutely nothing.**_

I nodded, taking Hyorinmaru's warning to heart. I was getting a bad feeling about where this was going.

"How much does Potter know?"

"Just the things that he's been directly involved in."

_**Which is a polite way of saying absolutely nothing.**_

"So he knows everything then?" I said clearly, putting my point across in an innocently rude way.

"No, just that Voldemort has returned. He doesn't even know about how the order is watching him to protect him, or about the prophecy. I would ask that you keep it a secret from him."

"I will try my hardest, but if the boy asks me directly than I will tell him as much of the truth as is necessary." Dumbledore shot me a disapproving look at that last statement, but he didn't say anything about it.

_**This man is not running things well, if he truly believes in the prophecy then he should understand Harry Potter needs to know all the facts. Also, there is something else I have noticed. I believe Harry Potter's soul has been fused with Voldemort's to form the last horucrux, it would explain why he needed the boy's blood to make a new body, it would also explain how the boy is able to constantly able to thwart him. We will check, and if it proves to be true we will confront Dumbledore since I believes he knows more than he is letting on. Report all of this to Yamamoto, he might have more information about Dumbledore's background.**_

And just as if he was trying to prove our theory right, Dumbledore changed the subject. "Hagrid will be here tomorrow to take you to go buy your school supplies. Here is a tube to send messages in since your Soul Phone will not work at Hogwarts, and you will need this to send reports. Yamamoto has the twin, any messages you put in this tube will appear in Yamamoto's."

"Thank you. Now I assume there is a reason you have stationed me directly under the Potter boy's house. What is it?"

"I wish for you to protect him from Voldemort. Follow him, but do not let him know you are doing so. Also, no one at the school who is not a member of the order will know about your Shinigami nature. I ask that you keep it a secret from anyone else. Only adults can join, so no students know who you are either."

He turned to leave and I said, "One moment more, Dumbledore. I have two things to say. The first is a gentle warning; if Potter is anywhere near as special as he seems then he will eventually figure all this out. When he does you'd better have a solid reason for why you kept him in the dark and used him like a pawn, or he will do what any normal person would and cease to trust you. The second thing is another question; How far informed have you been about the Aizen situation?"

"Yamamoto has given me sufficient information. I assume you will be able to defend us from them?"

_**If he says that with so little care then he truly does not understand the magnitude of the situation.**_

"I'll fight, but let's face it, if I have three former Captains and a couple hundred hollows coming after me I won't stand a chance. I know this is a hard thing for you to understand, Dumbledore, but if I tell you to you need to evacuate Hogwarts and burn it to the ground, then you need to do it _immediately_. I assume you have an evacuation plan in place? We must stop Aizen from getting that information from your school."

Dumbledore's mouth fell open, "You can't be serious! Hogwarts is the center for wizard learning. So much knowledge would be lost."

"That's the point- that knowledge that would be lost would be knowledge Aizen can't use. It's either Hogwarts, or our entire universe. Which one are you going to take? You can rebuild Hogwarts, Dumbledore. You can't rebuild the universe. The safety of souls is my first priority. Anything else comes after that; including the survival of simple knowledge. There are no close seconds here, Dumbledore. I will defend the soul society with my life. I will ask you one more time, _do you have a plan developed_?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "No. It's never been necessary before."

"Well it is now. Are you capable of developing a plan that will get everyone out in under five minutes, or do I need to do it for you?"

"You do it, I'm sure you have more experience than I do."

"I will require a map of the school, with all known passageways and exits carved into it."

Dumbledore pulled a map out of his pocket. "This is the headmaster's copy. I will require it back when you are finished."

"You'll get it back."

He actually sat back down again, a move that slightly increased my respect for him. At least he was adult enough to know when he didn't know the whole story, "In truth," he sighed, "All Yamamoto told me was that there was a very powerful man attempting to destroy the Soul Society. He said that the man had known about the existence of Hogwarts and the wizarding world since he accessed the books in your library pertaining to our race. I'm going to assume that there's a lot more going than that since you are so worried."

I nodded and sighed, "Recently there has been a lot of chaos in the Soul Society. Aizen used the opportunity to fake his death, pretending to be murdered. He cast the blame onto several different people to create confusion, but he made sure the prime suspect was Gin Ichimaru, his cohort. At the same time that he faked his death there was an execution scheduled for a girl named Rukia, she was one of the Kuchiki clan so we all expected her to get out of it alive, especially since the 'unpardonable crime' she committed was so minor, and she had an entire army breaking in from the world of the living to save her. Much to our surprise though, central pushed her execution date up hugely foreword, and then stated that they would be closing up because of a 'security risk'. Are you keeping up so far?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"Good. It gets worse from here on. I was suspicious of how central Forty-Six had just closed up all of a sudden, so I took my Lieutenant and the two of us went to go see what had happened. We had been investigating Aizen's death and we knew that there was more to Kuchiki's death than was being let on, so we went to go stop it. We broke down the doors and went in. I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I found that the entire group had been massacred. Rangikou and I immediately suspected Gin Ichimaru and his Lieutenant. When Kira, his Lieutenant walked in we gave chase to him. I was about to take him out when he informed me that... Gin... was still at the Central forty-six. Matsumoto- my Lieutenant- took Kira out while I ran back to Central Forty-Six."

_**So you don't plan on telling him about Hinamori?**_

_That is a personal matter, all Dumbledore needs to know is about what happened. He is not fighting Aizen after all; I am. Besides, with the condition she's in Hinamori will not be combat ready for another twenty years; assuming she ever will be. Because of that I doubt Dumbledore will ever see her, let alone need to know her story._

"There I discovered Aizen was still alive. I tried to take him out, but it was only an illusion. The real Aizen stabbed me from behind while I was fighting the fake. He then revealed his plan, and told us that his partners were Ichimaru and Tosen. All three of them are at Captain level, it turns out Kira had no idea of what was happening. They revealed that the reason they wanted Kuchiki killed so badly was because she was the seal for a powerful object called the Hogyoku. It is apparently used to break the barrier between Soul Reaper and Hollow, we can only assume he is using it to make himself an army. That army alone will probably not be powerful enough to help him defeat the Gotei 13 and destroy the Soul Society; he will also need something else which is why we assume he will be attempting to learn magic by ransacking Hogwarts."

"Do you know what his final goal is?"

_**Do we tell him we don't know what it is yet? Apart from the whole 'elevating myself to God' thing. I don't think either of us actually believe he's trying to do something so generic after forming such brilliant plans.**_

_No, we'll just be generic. Let's face it; everyone wants to destroy the Soul Society. I doubt Aizen is any different._

"He wishes to destroy the Soul Society and the World of the Living so he can remodel the two to suit himself and his comrades better."

Dumbledore nodded, "I see... do whatever you need to do, Hitsugaya-Taicho. I'm at your service. I'm sure we can both agree that the protection of Hogwarts is our first priority, for both reasons. All I ask though is that if you plan on doing anything too drastic you warn me."

"Of course." I agreed readily.

"I suppose it's lucky that you stopped me from leaving because there's one more thing I forgot to mention. The ministry of magic is meddling in Hogwart's affairs. They've sent us our new defence against the dark arts teacher, a particularly nasty woman by the name of Deloris Umbridge. Be careful of her, she 'll most likely try to get in your way."

"Am I allowed to wipe her memory if I do slip up?"

He sent me a cautious look, "Does your procedure have any harmful effects?"

"No, not unless you want it to. I doubt I'll have to use it at all, it will most likely be for if Potter slips up."

Dumbledore heaved himself out of the chair. "In that case then, go right ahead." Dumbledore said cheerfully as he walked out of the room, "And in that case I'll be off then. Contact me if you require anything," And then the strange man was gone, leaving me sitting there wondering exactly what I was going to do now.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I apologize if that last Chapter seemed a little bit boring, but all that chatting and planning had to be gotten rid of before we began the fun activities. Now that it's out of the way though... well, let the fun begin.**

**Chapter Three- The Boy Who Lived**

**Hitsugaya POV**

I spent a few minutes getting my stuff set up around the small room and getting changed into clothing that would make me less noticeable after Dumbledore left, it was nice and quiet in the room, but I could still hear what was going on in the Dursley household to make sure Potter wouldn't need my help. For the most part I would probably spend my time sneaking around on rooftops to keep an eye on him, especially during the night time when he's asleep and the chances of something going wrong were high. I could only hang out on the rooftops during the night though, Potter is a wizard, and therefore he can see me. That means that sitting outside his window in broad daylight is just asking for trouble. I'll have to get creative to figure this one out.

As far as I knew it was about ten o'clock at night right now, which was disorienting to say the least since the time was complexly different than that of the Soul Society. I could hear Mr and Mrs Dursley head up to bed, and a loud snoring noise coming from another bedroom. I highly doubted that noise was coming from Potter, since snoring that loud could only come from someone that weighed a lot.

Eventually I figured I had better go up to keep an eye on Potter. The entire neighbourhood was asleep from the sounds of it, so I quietly slid open the door. Climbing up onto the roof I peeked into all of the ground floor windows, there were no bedrooms there so I moved up to the second floor. I didn't feel like wasting the reiatsu it would take to fly, so I just jumped up and pulled myself over the window ledge to look in. This was a boy's room, but I highly doubted that it belonged to Harry Potter. The boy sleeping in the bed was so huge I doubted that he could even walk properly, let alone fend off dark wizards. He was snoring so loudly and had such a stupid look on his face that I actually had to work really hard to keep myself from breaking out into a fit of laughter.

I swung myself over to the next window and looked in, it was just a bathroom. I could smell the cleaning chemicals from out here, actually, it's a wonder that the people in that house haven't died from poisoning yet. I would have passed out if I had to spend more than ten minutes in there.

I jumped over to the next window, feeling a little bit like a stalker and not caring. After all, I was just doing my job and protecting these people. If they were to have a problem with it (which they won't, because I don't plan on getting caught) then I would just tell them to suck it up. It was either me peeking through their windows or the hollows, and when a thing wearing a white mask with a hole in its chest looks through their windows I can guarantee that they'll want me back immediately.

The next room contained a master bed with two people laying in it. One was a thin, twig like woman with a scowl etched onto her face even in her sleep. The other one was a pudgy man with a moustache, he was muttering to himself with an irritated expression on his face.

I fell pretty bad for Potter, actually, it must suck for him to have to put up with these people for an entire summer while he knows his friends are off having fun without him.

Eventually I found a boy who must be Harry Potter. He was a thin, bony child with messy brown hair. I could see a pair of round glasses sitting on the bedside before him. His hands were clenched and he was twitching back and forth, he turned towards me and I saw that he had a thin, lightning bolt scar running down his face. He twitched again and mumbled, "Cedric, no. We have to get out of here, that's- Cedric!" I sighed; he was obviously having a bad nightmare. Then again, anyone who's seen the kind of stuff he has would have a nightmare.

I looked around his bedroom, clothing and spell books were scattered everywhere. The only thing that he appeared to be taking care of was a shiny looking broomstick sitting in a corner, although why he was keeping _that _in good condition was a mystery to me. Maybe brooms had some kind of wizarding power. The white snowy owl sitting in a cage in the corner of the room looked at me and let out a screech.

I quickly dropped down onto the ground, pressing my back against the wall under his window. I heard Potter sit up with a gasp. There was a scrambling noise as he reached for what I assumed were his glasses and a wand. His reaction time was good, I could say that much for someone who had just woken out of an obviously deep sleep.

I heard him get up and say, "What is it, Hedwig? Do you want out again?" I heard him go over and unlatch the cage, but the bird stayed there, just making a chirping noise. "Well," I heard Potter say, "If you want out the window is open." I heard him take off his glasses and roll back into bed. Cautiously I made my way up again, this time going to the roof above his house. I would analyse his spiritual pressure later, all the magical objects in the room- even the owl- were emitting a faint reiatsu that was interfering with my attempt to see if he was a horucrux.

I pulled out my Soul Phone and sent a message to Yamamoto:

**Dumbledore Albus has informed me that you have a **

**tube that I can send messages in.**

**Please confirm.**

As much as Dumbledore seemed like a nice enough man, I wanted to make sure Yamamoto really had the twin for that tube. It would be a grand mistake on my part to not check and then find out that I had been sending private messages concerning my mission to Dumbledore.

There were a few minutes of waiting where I debated whether or not to go get that map and begin an escape route. Then I realised that I had absolutely no paper here to write on. I was going to have to wait until that Hagrid fellow got here and took me to buy supplies before I began sending reports and making plans. Sighing, I leaned back and closed my eyes, sensing the spiritual pressure around the house. There was nothing at all except for the faint reiatsu of humans and animals. Potter's house was the most spiritually rich thing around, which wasn't surprising considering that he lived there.

I was about to start meditating with Hyorinmaru when the Soul Phone buzzed, startling me out of my half-trance. I opened it up and a message appeared on my screen.

**I have such a tube.**

**I expect your report no later than tomorrow night.**

**Good luck, Hitsugaya Taicho.**

I nodded, half-relieved and half-disappointed. I was relieved because at least this meant Dumbledore wasn't lying to me. I was disappointed though because if he had been lying to us then it would have been a wonderful opportunity to screw with him and send him false messages in the tube while communicating with Yamamoto on the Soul Phone.

I spent the entire night up on the rooftop just staring at the stars and patrolling for enemies. Even though the night was clear the stars in this city were depressing, the light coming from all the houses cars and streetlamps blotted them out. The Soul Society had none of those things, and the sky always looked like it was alive at night with flashing bursts of colour and spiritual energy. The sun was just starting to rise, so I looked around cautiously and prepared to jump down, hoping that no one would see me sneak back into my underground room.

Something stopped me from going through with my plan though. There was a kind of _whooshing _noise and all of a sudden I felt the spiritual pressure of an unknown wizard. I leapt from the roof and darted towards it using shunpo. A huge man stood there, wearing a huge brown jacket that was covered in pockets. He had a long, messy brown beard with hair that matched. He frowned and scratched his head, looking at a map, "Dumbledore said the kid would be around here somewhere. Damn. I hope Harry doesn't see me, he's having a hard enough time as it is..."

Walking up behind him I said, "Then I suggest you stop standing in the middle of the street, especially considering you're standing right outside his house. As for this _kid _you're looking for, I should hope you're not talking about me since I am most definitely _not a kid."_

The man turned to look at me, his mouth falling open at my appearance before he snapped it shut and spoke, "Then let's go for a quick stroll down that way, we've got a few minutes before the Portkey goes again."

I nodded easily and followed him, "Are you Hagrid?"

He nodded, "I'll take it you're Toshiro Hitsugaya then?"

"Hai."

"You look an awful lot like a kid to me."

I gritted my teeth, "Looks can be deceiving."

He chuckled, "That's true, I suppose." glancing at his watch he said, "It should be going soon now, grab onto the boot, Toshiro. Unless you want to get left behind, of course." he held out a small leather boot and I grabbed onto it, not believing at all that it would work and hoping that no one back in the Soul Society would ever get wind of this. I must look like a complete idiot right now, standing in the middle of the street in broad daylight while sharing a rotten old boot with a giant.

"I have no intention of getting left behind." I muttered under my breath, "And my name is Hitsugaya, not Toshi-" I didn't have time to finish the familiar sentence, because there was a sharp jerking feeling and suddenly we were falling through blackness. Eventually we landed in the middle of the city. I frowned and looked around me, seeing a huge clock tower I realised we must be in London. We walked down a side street that was rather sketchy and came to a bar known as the 'Leaky Cauldron'.

The first thought that popped into my head was 'What a pathetic name'.

The second was, 'How is this place not falling down around my ears'.

The Leaky Cauldron was an old run-down pub. There was dust everywhere and barely any light shone through the dirty window. Despite that though, there were quite a few people dressed in strange robes sitting around drinking and talking. The man in the bar looked up, "Hagrid." he said by way of greeting, giving us a rather toothless smile, "New student? He looks a little young to be going to Hogwarts."

I gritted my teeth and tried my best to ignore the insult. Despite my best effort though, the temperature still dropped several degrees.

"He's a transfer student from Japan; He'll actually be in Fifth Year."

"I take it your schools are tougher then?" he asked with another smile, turning to me.

"I don't know yet," I said, "I haven't seen what Hogwarts is like yet."

Actually, what I wanted to say was, "_Unless Hogwarts has full on battle classes where the students go out in groups of three and kill hollows, and pass and fail is measured in whether or not you survive, then yes, I would say our school is harder. Not to mention students in the Shinigami Academy are often adults- which results in a large amounts of drinking and swearing- and quite a few other people are completely and utterly insane, making studying harder for those of us who want to get the hell out of school."_

He chuckled, "He's a smart one Hagrid."

We walked out of the room, leaving without any trouble, but then one woman said, "I don't know why his parents are letting him go _there. _Especially when they have a perfectly good school in Japan. Everyone knows Dumbledore has gone off his rocker, and he'll only bring Hogwarts down with him if he keeps on believing that delusional Potter boy."

Hagrid got an absolutely furious look on his face and made to turn around. I grabbed onto his arm, stopping him and holding him in place. His eyes widened at how strong I was. "Wait." I told him quietly, "You're a known supporter for Dumbledore. They won't listen to you at all. Let me handle this, and whatever you do, _don't interfere."_

Pitching my voice louder I said, "What do you mean? Who's this Potter boy?"

The woman spoke again; she wore pink clothing and looked a lot like a toad. Her voice was sugary sweet and I got the impression she was more dangerous than any hollow. I also got the impression that someone; most likely the Ministry, had hired her to spread discontent over Dumbledore.

God, I hate politics.

"Harry Potter," she said, her voice clouded with thinly veiled disgust, "Is a good for nothing liar. He somehow cheated and got into the tri-wizard tournament underage. Then when he and another competitor go to the end he killed that competitor so he could win. Then to top it all off he said it was he-who-must-not-be-named that did it. Potter is just a delusional little boy who suffers from lack of proper parents and wants attention. He's been Dumbledore's favourite for a long, long time. He's just indulging the boy, and everyone knows it. The Ministry of Magic has been trying to get Dumbledore out of Hogwarts for ages; they know he's been biased towards the students. They want him gone."

I tried to look thoughtful for a while before replying, "Surely your Ministry has ways of telling what the last spell cast on a person is and who cast it? I know our government does. I think the _bigger _question is why didn't they do that to clear it all up. Did they do it?"

The toad woman shook her head, "No. It was so obvious Potter was delusional that it was deemed unnecessary."She seemed faintly nervous about something.

I frowned, "That doesn't make sense. If they really wanted to find out the truth then all they had to do was cast that one spell. Now, try thinking of it this way. _Who has the most to gain from he-who-must-not-be-named being dead for good? _I'd say it would be the ministry. They're politicians, and for something this big to have happened under their watch; well, they'd be in pretty big trouble. Let's face it; the chances of a _baby _actually killing a fully grown wizard are slim. The fact that the ministry confirmed that he was dead seems like a pretty big mistake to me. And now they're trying to cover it up. You all know what it was like though, this guy was evil; everyone fears him to the point where no one even says his name. The ministry is trying to use your fear of him to make sure you never want to believe he's back, so they can clean up their mess in secret. You know what I think though? I think it's better to look a little paranoid than to be dead. Just take a few precautions, that's all anyone has to do. Then wait to see what happens. I think that, whether it's true or not, you at least need to do that." I let my eyes travel over them as if I were giving a pep-talk to my squad before a big fight. They were hanging off of my every word and the woman looked absolutely horrified. I had them, and she knew it.

"Why would the Ministry take a chance with something so serious? Are they so blinded by power? There's a point where people need to take a stand for something themselves. You can take that stand, if you get twenty people to do it, then soon they'll have all their friends doing it, then they'll have all their friend's friends doing it. You don't need to live in fear like the Ministry wants you to; you just need to be prepared." I shrugged, "But that's just my opinion of course." And with those words Hagrid and I turned and walked out of the room into a dingy back alleyway.

"Wait a moment," I murmured to Hagrid, "I need to know if that worked, or if I need to find another argument."

I stopped and closed my eyes, standing outside the door and listening. The toad woman was the first to speak, her poisonous sugar voice easy to pick out. "Well, he was a strange child. Did you see his hair, I bet he spends hours bleaching and gelling it. And his eyes, they were so cold. I bet he's crazier than Dumbledore and Potter combined."

"Oh, shut up Dolores. We all know where your loyalties lie." I paled, that woman was the Umbridge person Dumbledore warned me about. _That _woman was going to Hogwarts. Damn, she's going to make my life harder now. Oh well, the day I can't deal with a toad is the day I'll have to resign.

_**Oh, somehow I don't think you'll be resigning anytime soon, Master. That was bloody brilliant. The look of horror on her face... priceless. Who knew you were so good at that?**_

_You of all people should know that you can't persuade a squad of two hundred fighters and a drunken Lieutenant to follow you orders- especially when you look as young as I do- without learning how to manipulate the hell out of people._

_**You know, sometimes you're one scary little kid.**_

_I'll ignore the 'little kid' part and take that as a compliment._

There were several more catcalls sent towards the ministry member, and I heard her chair scrape as she fled from the room. A smile grew on my face at that. Then, only adding to my delight, I heard all the people in the pub start talking about what precautions they were going to take. Then, really, really adding to my delight, they started planning meeting where they could discuss what needed to be done about finding out the truth.

Hagrid turned to look at me, "That was bloody brilliant. How did you do that? You're just a kid."

I sighed, gritting my teeth, "I. Am. Not. A. Kid." I grated out, "I am older than you are, and I have seen things that would send you running. So I ask you to please stop calling me a kid before I lose my temper."

The temperature around us dropped a few degrees.

Hagrid nodded, "Fine. But that still asks the question. How did you do that?"

"Dumbledore hasn't been thinking outside the box, where I come from we do things differently than he does. If the government does not listening, then you get the _people _to listen to you. The ministry members are all people, after all. Eventually they will jump on board. Dumbledore cannot fight of Voldemort with the Order of the Phoenix alone. You learned that last time. He needs everyone. Secret societies only get secretly run over and destroyed."

"Yes, but anyone who fights Voldemort ends up dead. In telling them to prepare you've put those people in a lot of danger."

I met his eyes squarely, "And your point?" I asked coldly.

"That doesn't bother you?"

I shook my head, "I am not a teacher like Dumbledore, nor am I a politician like Umbridge. I am a warrior. My job is to fight and kill and protect those around me. I can already tell you people aren't like me. You would not coolly calculate the possibility of beating Voldemort; they would either charge or turn and run. I know that when you're up against people like Voldemort you need to be smart, you need to have resolve. And most of all, you need to have an army. And no, I don't mean an army of people who have no attachment to the cause, I mean you need anyone who you enemy is targeting to be prepared to fight him, to come to battle without a moment's hesitation. Dumbledore, in his desperate attempt to protect everyone, did not realise that this is _everyone's _fight. Since Voldemort will target everyone, than everyone needs to become involved. Guarding an entire county with an organization of twenty people will not work. To guard an entire country, you need an entire county. Those people in the room discussing how to protect themselves may not be many, but they are a start."

"Then we should get people who know how to fight, not people off of the street."

I raised an eyebrow, "And what exactly is the Order composed of? People off of the street. I'll tell you this right now, Hagrid. In the Soul Society none of you- not even Dumbledore- would be considered powerful fighters, or even a minor threat. I would not even be here now if it weren't for the fact that Voldemort split his soul several times, breaking our laws and requiring someone high level to perform a Soul Burial. We would have sent a squad of minor fighters, or maybe a sixth or seventh seat. Besides, if he gets his way Voldemort will kill them all anyways. Not one single wizard in that room was a pureblood, and therefore they'll all die. Might as well give them a fighting chance. This is their war too- in shutting them out you do them a great dishonour. You're basically saying 'You're too pathetic, so stand back and let the big boys take care of this'. You're not the only ones with a lot to lose, and you should never, ever forget the power of a group of people who have everything to lose."

"You say Squads, Dumbledore told us you were a Shinigami from the Soul Society, but he didn't tell us what rank you were. We assumed your society had no ranks... but from the way you're talking that is not the case."

I smiled grimly, "No. It's not. The Soul Society is under constant attack by people who want to take over the universe and become gods. Because of that the Soul Society is run by the military; the Shinigami. There is a king, but he is just a figure head. There was a council, but they were murdered by Aizen- one of those people attempting to exceed God. That leaves the Gotei Thirteen, the Stealth Forces and the Kidou Corps. Both the Stealth Forces and the Kidou Corps are part of the Gotei Thirteen; they just aren't part of the thirteen squads."

"And the rank within the squads?"

"Each squad has approximately two-hundred fighters in it, but the numbers vary depending on the squad. There are ten seated members in the squad. From tenth seat to third seat their power levels are similar, they handle the day to day affairs for the squad. They may or may not have achieved a Shikai level of fighting. Then comes the Lieutenant, or Vice Captain. They all have achieved Shikai and they have completed an exam stating they are worthy of being second in command of a squad. Then, after a Lieutenant there is a Captain. The Captains are immensely more powerful, they have achieved a level after Shikai- the Bankai level. Very, very few people have ever achieved this. It requires you taking complete and total control of you Zanpakuto spirit and merging it with yourself to use their powers."

"And your rank?"

"Captain."

Hagrid's mouth fell open, and I relished in the look of surprise on his face. I never got tired of that look on someone's face, especially since it meant that they couldn't underestimate me anymore. Hopefully now he'll stop calling me a kid, "Damn, that's pretty impressive. For someone your size too."

I gritted my teeth and decided to ignore it; he was obviously a lost cause. Besides, it would probably be bad for my cover if he started being respectful to me in front of a crowd of students. That and he kind of reminded me of Jidanbo, a gatekeeper who I had befriended when I was a child. He never addressed me as Captain, and since he knew me well before I was one he was one of the few people I never scolded for it.

Most of the time. Sometimes I snapped at him because it was a gut reaction. After years spent chewing Hinamori and Matsumoto out I couldn't really help myself.

Anyways, I was starting to wonder how long we were going to be standing in an alleyway when Hagrid pulled out a scruffy pink umbrella and started tapping bricks on the wall. I wondered idly what he was doing, but then the bricks spun out of the way, revealing a long narrow street that lined with peculiar shops and filled with people in bright robes. I kept my expression calm, but my thoughts were racing. This place was spectacular.

Hagrid looked around, "Well, it's off to the bank first. Dumbledore said to give this to you..." he trailed off, rummaging around in his jacket, "Aha! Here it is," he pulled out a tiny key. "This will open up your vault and let you get out money. Your stuff is contained in vault number six-hundred and twenty two."

He passed it to me and I took it, nodding my thanks. The two of us continued down the walkway until a large stone building that had 'Gringotts' written on it. Hagrid walked inside and I followed him as he walked over to the nearest tunnel. The creature standing behind the desk was short, ugly and very angry looking. He frowned at me, and Hagrid said, "Mr. Toshiro here would like to access his vault." the goblin nodded.

"Vault number?" he asked, wrinkling his nose at me as if I were a piece of dirt.

"Six-hundred and twenty two."

"Yes, yes." he said, gesturing for another one of his race to come over he said, "Kreshnak will lead you to your vault."

'Kreshnak' gestured for us to follow him and we did so. He led us to a cart like thing and we both climbed in. It started whizzing around a track, heading downwards into the depths of the Earth. Even I couldn't see the bottom, there was nothing but darkness. I felt Hyorinmaru take a glance out of my eyes.

_**Fascinating. Can you feel the spiritual pressure coming from down there? It feels like...**_

He was interrupted when a huge roar erupted from the bottom of the shaft, shaking the walls around us.

Kreshnak frowned, "Odd. He shouldn't be acting up right now. He hasn't been this way since that foolish wizard tried to smuggle a baby dragon in. He shouldn't be reacting to you coming through his area. Why is he...?" The man trailed off and I paled.

I recognized what that roar sounded like, it sounded almost identical to Hyorinmaru's when he was in a rage. There was only a slight difference between the two noises.

_**Master, that is a...**_

_I know. Can you understand him?_

_**He thinks you're holding me hostage.**_

_Am I?_

_**Of course not. You are one of the most powerful Shinigami ever, and once you fully mature I wouldn't be surprised if you surpass old man Yamamoto. I am proud to call you master and companion.**_

_That's good, for several reasons that range from the fact that you are one of my closest friends, to I'd be to powerless without you to... I dunno, there's a giant dragon coming towards us and he's probably going to try to incinerate us both and I'm probably going to need your help with that._

Kreshnak was looking at me, his eyes narrowed, "What happens in Gringotts stays in Gringotts, so if you're not entirely human and your presence is causing this problem, then please speak up."

"I believe I am."

"And do you have a solution for it?"

_If I get close enough to it can you reason with it Hyorinmaru?_

_**I can try, but it might not work since I am not in my physical form.**_

"Well... kind of. I can try to talk to it and reason with it, or I could trap it, or I could kill it, or I could just ignore it..." I responded to the goblin's question.

_**Ignoring it is a really bad idea, Master.**_

"Never mind, scratch that last one. I've been told it won't work. Hagrid, here's the key to the vault. Can you go get the money out of it with Kreshnak? Kreshnak, is there anything- other than the dragon, of course- that I should be worried about?"

"This place is riddled with deadly traps. I strongly advise against whatever it is you're thinking right now."

Hagrid looked at me, "I know you think you're good, but this is insane."

"Well, if I don't leave then you'd both be incinerated. I would rather have it be just me than all three of us. Besides, if there is a single thing in this bank that can hurt me then I will be very, very impressed. I'll try my hardest not to kill your dragon, I swear. But if it's me or it, then it's going to be the dragon that goes."

And with that I swung one leg over the railing, and ignoring Hagrid's and Kreshnak's protests, I threw myself over the edge and into the ever darkening abyss.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: It's odd how you don't think of writing something until you're halfway through a Chapter, I had completely forgotten that there even was a dragon in Gringotts until halfway through the last Chapter. And then things built from there, giving me an actual plotline for this story. Enjoy the Chapter (It's important!).**

**Also, there is now a poll up on my profile. Several people have expressed a desire for other characters. I can tell you right now that due to popular request, Urahara, Shihoin and Materialized Hyorinmaru will be making an appearance. If there's anyone else you really want in here, send a pm or vote in the poll.**

**In another point, I had some people who were wanting this to be a more comedic thing. It's not, but I will try and make an 'blooper' Chapter with the more funny moments in it.**

**Chapter Four- Misunderstandings of the Dragon Variety**

**Hitsugaya POV**

Alright, so of all the things in my life that I've done, this is probably one of the least intelligent. It wasn't the fact that I was going to face off with a dragon, I've done that before, nor was it even the fact I'm falling down a supposedly bottomless chasm, once again I've done that before. It wasn't even the fact that supposedly this place was riddled with traps. The traps were made to stop humans, so I hoped that they would have no effect on me.

It was the fact that I had absolutely no idea how to get out of this place that was a problem. You'd think that I would have noticed how akin to a maze it was when I was coming down here, but I was too busy concentrating on the reiatsu of the dragon to notice.

_**First things first, Master. We'll talk to my kin and then- assuming all goes well- we'll find our way out of here. If necessary I suppose we could blow our way out, but that would suck for the countless riches stored here and we'd probably get into a fair amount of trouble.**_

_At least we'd be alive._

I didn't know why, but the closed in space of this bank made me feel trapped. I had never been one for heat or closed places. Dragons- particularly ones as strong as Hyorinmaru and myself- needed room to spread our wings. We needed room to _fly. _And there was none of that here. I had no idea how the dragon below us had not gone insane.

Then again, judging from the noise he was making he could have very well gone insane.

Hyorinmaru and I went to go around a track, landing on it. As soon as our feet touched the track though, it burst into green flames. We threw ourselves off using shunpo. As soon as we were off of it returned to its normal state. I frowned. If that was the best they could do then these deadly traps weren't really all that 'deadly'. I could navigate them while I was aslee-

Right as I thought that fifty or sixty flying things that looked suspiciously like knives dipped in poison came shooting up the shaft towards me.

"Bakudo thirty-nine, Enkosen!" I yelled, and a shield of condensed reiatsu appeared in front of me, blocking the tiny flying daggers. They all bounced off the shield that was less than an inch away from my face, and I yelled, "Hado thirty-three, Sokatsui!" shooting off a blue lightning bolt at the daggers and incinerating them.

Taking a deep breath I looked around. Apparently this place was more dangerous than it appeared. I made my way down more cautiously, avoiding and occasionally destroying all of the traps that lay in my path. The roars of the dragon became louder as I got nearer. Yet despite how close I was getting to it its spiritual pressure did not increase. I frowned; that could not be right. This place must be playing tricks on me.

_**No, Master, it's not. They have binding spells around here that affect how much one is affected by the reiatsu of the dragon. That is how they control it, and that's how it thinks you are controlling me.**_

_Are the binding spells affecting you?_

_**No. They only work on those who are still living. You and I can pass right through them. We are lucky, if they affected us as well then we would be doomed.**_

We continued to the bottom of the shaft, eventually a dirty rock floor coming into view. I carefully put my foot on the ground, expecting more traps. None came, everything remained just as it was.

_Odd. You'd think after how paranoid they were there would be more guarding this floor._

_**If I had to guess I'd say that they count the dragon as their ultimate kill-all trap.**_

_How foolish of them._

Reminded of the task at hand I walked along the snaking floor. It was twenty feet wide, bending and curving the way a river would. I followed it until I came face-to-face with a pile of ruby jewels. Or rather, a pile that _looked _like ruby jewels, since as soon as I got close to it that pile opened its yellow eyes and stood up, revealing itself to be a huge dragon.

It took one huge look at me and roared. I knew it was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't understand it. Hyorinmaru rose in my mind, letting his true nature show.

For most of my life, Hyorinmaru acted human. I treated him like a brother when he was in that form, like he was my partner and friend for all eternity. No matter what we did together in that time though, it would not change the fact that Hyorinmaru was not a human spirit. He was a dragon. If the people around them were weak then dragons were no one friends, they answered to no Master, and most of all they didn't go around trying to protect weak little Shinigami children who got stones thrown at them. This was the form he took when I was in Bankai, the form I had to learn how to control so I could be powerful enough to _force _the dragon to become my friend and call me Master.

This was the form we took now.

"Bankai!" I yelled. Hyorinmaru roared and the two of us stood to face the dragon together.

As soon as I entered this form I realised I could understand the dragon now, and that even though he was probably thousands of years older than me I felt like he was young, like he was just a tiny little baby. He flinched when he felt my power, but the dragon stood firm.

_**You dare! **_The red dragon roared, and I realised he wasn't talking to me, _**You dare to let some measly little human control you! You are a dragon. Do not answer to that scum."**_

Hyorinmaru answered, responding through me, "_**I do not let him control. He takes it. Do not pretend to know of things you do not understand, young one. I am older than you both physically and mentally, I have been bonded to him for millennia. Do not even attempt to pretend that you understand the bond we share, for I know that you do not." **_His voice was calm, as if he were simply talking of the weather.

"_**So? You should choose death over control, if that is your only option!" **_He lunged for us and I danced sideways, freezing his feet to the ground and allowing Hyorinmaru to speak through me once again.

Hyorinmaru sighed, as if he were a teacher explaining something to a particularly ignorant pupil. _**"And what comes with death? Another life, my friend, and it would be a repeat of this all over again. I am no longer simply a dragon; I am Zanpakuto, dragon, and most of all the partner to a Shinigami. I have found my place in protecting this universe. I still fight, I still kill, but I do something that all you young ones are unable to; I protect. This is my place. I have no wish to leave it. If you attempt to force me then **_**we **_**will kill you. Do not think we won't, our partnership means more to us than you could imagine, and this boy has more power than the two of us combined."**_

Then, responding to what I knew Hyorinmaru wanted me to do I unfroze the bonds on the dragon's legs. With one last snarl the dragon turned and ran, going faster than I could imagine possible. I undid my Bankai form and my mind turned speculating.

_Hyorinmaru. _I growled mentally, _What the hell was that? Next time you're going to bring up secrets that I know nothing about warn me. 'Another life, and it would be a repeat of this all over again'. Nice. And speaking of secrets that I know nothing about, you should have told me. I don't care what you do in your own time, you're your own person, but if it involves reincarnating me every few centuries, then I have a right to know._

I froze, the words 'reincarnation' and 'every few centuries' struck a nerve. Something Gin had said to me a long time ago, about me being the reincarnation of a heavenly guardian that came around every few centuries. I had ignored him and attacked anyways, believing it to be some form of psychological warfare.

I turned to my partner, _Hyorinmaru . . ._

_**Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. As for what it all means though, you will have to wait. I will tell you when you are ready, and you are not yet there. Consider this another incentive to gain power.**_

_So basically you're saying I have to figure it out for myself?_

_**Basically. **_He chuckled mentally, knowing I wouldn't be able to resist the challenge. _**We should return, Master, before we give that man Hagrid a heart attack. We have a mission, and I will still be here once we have completed it. **_

I turned and went back up the shaft, growling mentally to myself about the secrecy of dragons. I understood that Hyorinmaru had a reason for holding it in, but I didn't see why it was such a big deal. All souls were reincarnated, that was the point of the soul cycle, so why should I be special? I had memories of my human life on earth; I remembered dying from starvation in the village I was living in. What was so scary about knowing what had happened before that? They were just another set of memories.

_**You will see, don't fret, Master. This mission will keep you occupied enough. Complete it first, worry about yourself second.**_

Hyorinmaru was right; there were people who I needed to be protecting right now. Hadn't Hyorinmaru just told the dragon our duty was to protect? I couldn't worry about myself in a time like this. I needed to kill Voldemort and Aizen. Only after that was done would I be able to worry about my own problems.

I got to the top of the shaft with minimal interruption since I had been able to disable and destroy most of the traps on the way down there. I found Hagrid and Kreshnak standing by the pair of double doors that led to the main bank with looks of worry on their faces. I rolled my eyes and walked up behind them silently, "My, my, my." I murmured as they both turned to look at me, "You two look worried. Is everything okay here?"

Their mouths fell open, "You need to stop sneaking up on me like that, kid. You nearly gave me a heart attack." Hagrid muttered.

"For the last time, I am not a kid." the events of the last five minutes proved that better than I could have ever imagined, "And I was making no effort at all to hide my presence. I simply came back up the shaft. If you had been paying attention you could have easily sensed me." Turning to Kreshnak I said, "Your dragon is fine; we just had to explain some of the finer points of age and control to him. He'll probably be irritable for a while, just to warn you."

Hagrid raised an eyebrow and said "We?"

I ignored him. Kreshnak looked at me cautiously, "You are powerful, Mr. Hitsugaya. May I ask how you were able to come back alive?"

I shrugged, "I simply avoided the traps. I could sense them. There were a couple that I could not avoid though, and I was forced to destroy them. My apologies, I'll pay for any damages."

Kreshnak looked even more surprised, and a little irritated. "Impressive." pulling out a bag he said, "Here is your money. Now get out before you cause anymore chaos, and I ask that next time you just inform someone and we'll get the money for you. Whatever you are, we don't want you in our bank."

I chuckled and bowed to him, "Many thanks." and followed Hagrid out of the bank.

Hagrid opened his mouth and I held up a hand, "Nothing all that spectacular happened. It was just a case of talking to an irate youngster. I would much appreciate it if you would let the matter drop, since the few things that did happen were personal. They will have no affect on you unless we run into another dragon, so they are clearly none of your business."

"So you plan on just ignoring that?"

"It's called compartmentalizing. You should try it. I am on a mission right now, and therefore personal matters must wait."

He stayed silent and I relished in the quiet. Eventually he led me to a shop labelled 'Ollivander's: Fine makers of wands since 382 BC'. There was a lone wand displayed in the window of the shop on a musty purple cushion that was turned almost grey with dust. Just like a lot of the things around here, the shop was run down and very old. We walked inside an a little old man immediately greeted us. Thousands of narrow boxes were piled high from floor to ceiling all around me.

I felt Hyorinmaru rumble uneasily.

_**Master, these wands- although they are weaker than even the bows of the Quincy- contain souls. They appear to be only an impression of the souls that once resided in the objects, but that is enough. Especially considering some of these spirits are dragons. I will not share you with another, no matter what the mission.**_

_I understand, old friend. Do not worry, I will not allow any of them to choose me. Surely there is another solution?_

The man smiled broadly, "Ah Hagrid, good to see you again! Is this another one going to Hogwarts?" Unlike all the people we had walked past in the street this man wasn't the least bit phased by my appearance. I was so used to people staring at me that I hadn't even noticed the other people, this was different though. And distinctly uncomfortable since I had been using that strangeness as a shield from the strangeness all around me.

He and Hagrid were talking about Hagrid's wand, which had apparently been snapped while he was a student. I frowned when Hagrid said that he kept the pieces; he had opened the wall up that umbrella. Given the pressure I felt coming from the umbrella I would bet money that the pieces were in there and still completely usable, if fastened together the right way. From the wary look the old man, Ollivander, gave him I would bet that the wand maker knew the same thing.

Turning to me the wand maker then said, "And your name is?"

"Hitsugaya Toshiro."

"Ah, you're of Japanese descent then? Interesting. My family rarely makes wands for people from there. Do you know why?"

I shook my head, "No, sir."

"Because normally when a person around there manifests wizard's powers they grow into something else entirely. They become known as 'Death Gods', 'Soul Reapers' or 'Shinigami'."

_**And, we're caught in under five minutes. I think we need a better cover.**_

Keeping my face blank I said, "Is that so?"

He chuckled, "No worries, my boy, what happens in this shop will stay in this shop. I felt the spirit of your sword the minute you walked in. Powerful, isn't he?"

_**Okay, we reaaallly need a better cover.**_

_No, you need a better cover. It was you he noticed, not me._

_**You keep telling yourself that, and yet you know it's not the least bit true.**_

I shrugged again, responding to Olliver's question. "Some could say that."

Ollivander chuckled, "Well, as I said before. We don't usually get customers of your type. Do not worry though; our family does not discuss the secrets of the races we find coming here for wands. Now, let's start with the usual cores. You never know what will fit someone."

He pulled a box off of the shelf and gently pulled out a stick. "Here you go. Give it a wave."

I waved the wand in my hand, feeling like a bit of an idiot. The window in the front of the store shattered. "I am so sorry..." I tried to apologize and the man laughed. Flicking his own wand I almost laughed in amazement as the window magically repaired itself. That spell would save us so much trouble back home where something got blown up at least twice every hour.

"Not to worry, not to worry. Phoenix feather is obviously not for you." Actually, I would be kind of curious to see the kind of damage this would do in a fight. If I were completely surrounded by hollows and I gave it a wave, what would happen?

He debated for a bit, muttered something about veela hair being too temperamental for me before pulling out another wand, "Unicorn hair, ten and a half inches made out of vine wood."

I gave it a flick and set the counter on fire. Ollivander quickly put it out and said, "Not for you either. No need to be worried, there is a wand for every wizard."

I was tempted to point out that he himself had said earlier that I was no wizard. He pulled out another one, passing it to me.

I knew as soon as I put my hand on it that the wand I was given had a dragon heartstring in it. There was a huge booming noise and the entire floor was covered in a foot of ice, sealing all three of us in place as the room dropped several dozen degrees. The wand fell out of my hand with a clatter.

Ollivander sighed, even though he looked happy. As we had been going along the man had gotten happier and happier, I guess he relished in the challenge of finding me a wand. I was wary of it though, he looked suspiciously like Zaraki did when he had found an opponent who could actually do some damage.

And I'm sure you all know this, but just in case you haven't then I'll tell you this; Zaraki is a raving lunatic.

Ollivander's wand was sitting on the desk out of his reach, and Hagrid's umbrella had frozen to the floor. I didn't want to reveal too many of my powers to the wand maker, but I had to do something or else we would be stuck here for a very long time.

A thousand years, to be exact, is the amount of time Hyorinmaru can make his ice last if he feels like it and no one puts up any resistance. And if his reaction was anything to go by, he was _pissed _right now and not the least bit likely to defrost things himself.

I quickly pulled in all of the reiatsu I had let out of my control and the room came back to a slightly normal temperature. Now I had to deal with the ice.

I debated whether or not to defrost it using kido, but then I figured that that was too much of a risk since I might kill the shop keeper if I aimed it around him. I then decided to do it around my own feet only. After I unthawed myself I could carefully pass the shopkeeper his wand and have him do the rest of it. Hopefully wizards would have spells that would deal with this. If they didn't then I guess I would be de-thawing everything with the risk of accidently blowing everyone up.

Bending down to the best of my ability I put my hand on the ice near my feet, not feeling the cold. I decided to say the incantation so I would have more control over the spell and there would be less of a chance of it blowing me up. "Ye Lord!" I began, "Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado thirty-one, Shakkaho!" The usual red ball of fire appeared in my hand and I carefully spread out the energy all around my feet. The ice melted quickly and I immediately doused the power I was feeding into the kido.

Walking over to the desk I carefully made a barrier of reiatsu between my hand and the wand. I didn't want to have a repeat of what just happened. I passed it to Ollivander, who was smiling like a cat in cream. He gave the wand a wave and the ice dissolved slightly. He frowned and tried again, making the movement more pronounced. The ice melted entirely that time. Another flick of his wand and the only sign that the store had been filled with water was the dampness of their clothing and of my outfit.

Ollivander started talking, "Well, well, well... you have an immense amount of power, don't you? A normal wand won't work for you two... no you'll need something else. Follow me! I think I know just what you need."

He opened a door and led me down a rickety flight of stairs into what appeared to be a workshop. Pulling out another stick he said, "This is the shell of a wand made from fir, a wood very durable yet pliable, and good for handling large amounts of power. It's eleven inches long."

"What's the core, Ollivander?" Hagrid had a slightly nervous look on his face.

"That's the beauty of it. There is no core!"

I smiled, immediately getting what Ollivander was getting at. "That should work perfectly." I said.

Ollivander nodded, "Here, give it a wave!"

He passed it to me and I funnelled my own reiatsu through it instead of attempting to use the object inside. I could feel it work instantly, there was an ebb and flow of my power and then snowflakes started falling from the ceiling of the shop.

"Perfect!" said Ollivander, "Now, mind you. This isn't a true wand. It's more of a pseudo wand so that Mr. Hitsugaya here can channel his powers through something other than his own two hands and look like a wizard. It will also allow you to do much finer, more detailed spells. That will cost you only one galleon and two sickles."

Hagrid passed me the money bag, I looked inside and realised I had no idea what type of coin was which. I figured that the bronze coins were too cheap to be used in such a transaction, so I grabbed two of the silver ones and one of the golden ones and handed them to Mr. Ollivander. He didn't object to the amount I gave him, so I assumed that I did it right.

Hagrid and I walked out of the store, my new wand in a bag I was holding. Hagrid looked at me sideways, "Did you know that would happen?"

"No, if I had then I would have just told him what I needed up front. You were just as surprised as I was."

Hagrid chuckled, "Don't worry, everyone is always surprised. I think that the stranger things go then the more fun Ollivander will have."

I chuckled, "I noticed he seemed to be enjoying himself a lot. Where do we go next?"

"Robe shop, they'll be fairly light for us to carry."

"Alright, lead the way."

We approached a small shop with the sign, 'Madame Malkin's Robes for all occasions. We walked inside and a kindly looking lady peered at me, "Going to Hogwarts for your first time, dear?" she asked calmly. I debated whether or not to get angry at her for suggesting I looked like a first year and calling me 'dear', but then figured that that would be counterproductive.

Instead I just nodded, "Not to worry," she said easily, "I'll get your robes made up in a jiffy!"

I spent an hour or so in the store while the lady bustled around busily, hemming my robes and finding different articles of clothing. Occasionally she would run off to help another customer before darting back to me. Occasionally a woman would come in and the two of them would start gossiping about trivial things such as celebrities or cauldron prices.

I was surprised that they never once touched the subject of Harry Potter, which I assumed would be a rather juicy article to talk about. I wondered if- despite the outward appearance of not supporting him at all- the wizarding community was a little but less trusting of the ministry than they appeared.

All chances of my actually believing Harry stood a fighting chance of blending in flew out the window when a tall, sour-faced boy with light blonde hair walked in. The woman gave an imperceptible sigh and I figured that this boy was _not _one of her favourite customers. She gave me an apologetic look and started trying to do both our robes up at once. The boy turned to look at me and said, "I don't think I've seen you before. Are you going to Hogwarts?"

I nodded, "I'm here on an exchange program from Japan."

He nodded, "How are you liking it so far?"

"It's nice, the culture is different though. Everyone is so pushy and in your face." I was hoping he would take the hint and shut up.

"You must be mingling with the wrong people then." he said arrogantly, "I see you've been wandering around with the half-giant. That's probably worth at least a dozen bad impressions."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, not liking this boy's attitude at all.

_What a stuck up little prick. _I muttered mentally to Hyorinmaru.

_**Tell me about it. He kind of makes me want to throw up. Actually, allow me to rephrase. When I say 'throw up' I mean 'accidently breath ice all over him'.**_

The boy explained, "Well, you know, there are two types of wizards; the purebloods and the mudbloods. I'm a pureblood, everyone else is trash. They weren't born wizards, so they shouldn't even be here. As for that big oaf standing outside, he's not even worth mentioning. He's a nutter who supports Dumbledore. He even had his wand snapped because he was considered too dangerous. Must be because he was too stupid to use it. It's a shame, I almost got him sacked in the third year, but then Dumbledore had to go and defend him."

I gritted my teeth. I had a low tolerance for people who thought that they were better than others because of the way they were born. Once you were born in Rukongai, or even spend a week there, you start to realise how bad some people have it. They're still good people, they were just 'born' in the wrong place in the wrong time. Does that mean that those who were lucky enough to be born in the right place get to walk all over them? No. It doesn't. I was terrified of nobles when I was a kid, when they came down to pick on us no one around me would help me because of the way I looked and they got to beat the hell out of me. I could easily see this blonde haired boy with them, and that made me hate him just as much as I hated them.

A couple of people walked into the store and I ignored them. I wanted to have a go at the blonde boy for being such a moron. He's lucky we're in a public place or I would have used kido to hang him from the ceiling. If I was feeling nice I would let him go after a century, if I was feeling mean I'd call down all the _other _lieutenants and captains who came from Rukongai to let them help me 'deal' with it.

Honestly, if you think I'm bad then you should see _them._

"There's nothing wrong with not having the right type of parents," I informed the boy coldly, "If you're too blind to look beyond bloodlines then it's your own fault, I suppose. Just don't go around trying to persuade those wiser than you that they're wrong. As for Hagrid, he is a genuinely nice person, regardless of what you think. And the fact that he's able to hold a teaching position in a wizard's school even though he has no wand shows just how smart he is. You might be special, I wouldn't know, but I can guarantee having the right family is not going to make you as special as someone who has talent but no family."

He laughed, "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are better than others, be careful who you side with."

"Oh, I'll be careful. After all, I wouldn't want to get stuck on _your_ family's side."

Madame Malkin finished up with the boy first, and he left the shop in a hurry, rudely shouldering past Hagrid. Two people stepped out from behind a clothing rack. Both of them looked almost identical, with bright red hair and freckles, "That was-"

"Bloody brilliant!" the other one finished. Both of them had wide, mischievous grins. I was reminded of the look Rangikou got when she had just received another bit of juicy gossip.

"What was bloody brilliant?" asked another boy, coming around a clothing rack with red haired girl in tow. All of them must be related to each other, I couldn't see any other reason for why they would all be so alike.

It was kind of creepy how they all just magically appeared, actually.

"This little midget just sent Malfoy running for the hills. You should've seen the look on his face."

So the boy's name was Malfoy. Interesting. Turning to the red head I said, "Just who are you calling a midget?" the temperature dropped several degrees. Again. Damn, I really need to stop getting angry around these people.

"No offense, mate, but you are a little titchy."

I gritted my teeth, he had a point, "Fine, just don't call me a midget. My name is Hitsugaya." They all looked like students from Hogwarts. I wondered if any of them knew more about Harry Potter.

"Hitsu-Hit-Hit," he gave up trying and just said, "my name is Ron," the younger boy pointed to himself, "This is Ginny. This is Fred and this is George." he pointed to each of his siblings.

Fred and George at that point chose to speak up, arguing with each other in a confusing way I really, really couldn't follow, "No I'm Fred. He's George . . . No you're Fred because I'm George . . . I'm not George, because I'm Fred, which means you can't be Fred . . . No, you were Fred last time. That means I'm Fred and you're George. And if you're George then you can't be Fred . . . But I'm always Fred . . . No, you're not because right now you're George and I'm Fred, which means you definitely aren't Fred . . . How about we both be Fred . . . No, we can't both be Fred because one of us has to be George . . . well then, you'll be Fred and I'll be George . . . No, I'm George . . . but you just said you wanted to be Fred . . . Yeah, well you said I was Fred last time, which means that you're Fred and I'm George, and if I'm George then you can't be Fred." they both paused for a moment to ponder their dilemma, then they both laughed, "Nah, we're just joking. No worries, mate, we'll answer to either."

I raised my eyebrows and said, "Okaaaay then." I automatically liked these easygoing people. Normally I would probably be offended by their frankness, and lack of manners, (and they'd probably all be suffering from severe frostbite for calling me a midget) but right now I was too tired by this new culture to care. These people may be odd, but they were good people and they at least tried to be nice to you. Compared to that last guy they were saints.

_**Kid, only one day with these people and you're getting that stick out of your ass. It's a bloody miracle.**_

_Oh, like you're any better Mr. I-Am-The-Great-Dragon-Of-The-Heavens-All-Shall-Bow-Before-Me._

Hyorinmaru growled.

I growled back. Mentally, of course, I wouldn't want to frighten the children.

"So where abouts are you from?" asked Ginny.

"And what did you do to your hair. It's bloody awful." asked Ron, Ginny smacked his arm and Ron winced. I chuckled, getting flashbacks of that Kurosaki kid and Rukia Kuchiki, "What? Ginny, I'm just telling the truth. His hair's absolutely awful."

"I'm from Japan, and as for my hair it's naturally this way." I answered stiffly.

"Oh... sorry."

I didn't answer.

"So, what's Japan like?"

"Different."

"Oh."

Madame Malkin said, "I'm all done with you dear. Have a nice day."

"Now look at what you've done Ron!" I heard the girl hiss, "You gone and offended him!"

I thanked Malkin and paid her before going out onto the street where Hagrid was waiting. I had wondered why he decided to stay out here. Seeing my questioning look he said, "I don't like it in there. Too much gossiping."

I nodded, "That's understandable."

We continued in silence and Hagrid asked, "So what happened in there. I saw Mr. Malfoy come out storming." I could tell that he was barely managing to contain his laughter.

"He was trying to give me teachings on the purity of the wizarding race. Since I'm not even technically human I didn't feel like going along with it. Then I talked to a couple of other children. They seemed nice enough."

Hagrid nodded, "The Weasleys are a good lot." bending down slightly he said, "Their parents are in the Order."

I nodded, that was good to know.

We finished up with our shopping, buying huge mounds of books and a bunch of potions supplies. We were about to leave when Hagrid said, "Oh, yes. I'm sure you'll want a pet."

I stopped dead in my tacks, and Hyorinmaru started laughing again.

_**Ready to freeze another hamster, Master? Momo would never forgive you if you killed another woodland creature.**_

"Actually, Hagrid. Me and animals don't get along well, so it's probably best if we skip the whole pet thing."

That was the understatement of the century. Over my long life I've killed pretty much every animal I've come into contact with, including hamsters, cats, dogs and the occasional goldfish. Most of the events happened when I was still very young and trying to control my powers, but every once and a while I'd lose my temper when one was standing to close and... well... turn them into frostbitten road kill. The Soutaicho had given a clear statement that, 'anyone who brought innocent creatures more than ten metres close to Hitsugaya-Taicho of squad ten would be severely punished'.

Yeah, that was probably one of the more embarrassing moments of my life.

Not to mention I already had one overly loud soul talking in my head. No need to add another.

_**Hey!**_

"Well then, I guess we're done. Let's head on back. It's starting to get dark." Hagrid was right, the sun was beginning to set. I still had to stay up all night to watch Potter and write several letters to the soul society.

Damn, I'm going to sleep well in the morning. And I say morning because that's when I'll be getting all my reports done.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:Yay! Snow Day! The weather is too stormy for anyone to get anywhere today, so the schools are closed. Anyways, here's the next chapter. I hope that you enjoy it. **

**Chapter Four- Dudley Not-So-Demented**

**Hitsugaya POV**

I waved goodbye to Hagrid as he vanished, still holding the musty old shoe in his hand. It was fairly dark out, so I hoped no one would notice the shopping bags that were 'mysteriously' floating through the street. There were times when being invisible to most humans was helpful. This was _not _one of them. I dumped my bags on the floor of the basement room with a sigh. I was _exhausted_. I had gone for over thirty hours now with no sleep, and it was starting to show.

I did a quick check for Potter's spiritual pressure and found it to be in his room, most likely he was sleeping.

Lucky bastard.

There would be several things that I had to do tonight, and not one single bloody one of them was going to be having a nice relaxing night. I grabbed the tube, a pile of parchment and a quill, Dumbledore's map, the recording of my conversation with Dumbledore and my Soul Phone. I put Hyorinmaru back into sword form, not wanting the bracelet to bother me while I was trying to write.

Not to mention the hilt would jab me in the back and wake me up if I drifted off.

First things first though, Old Man Yamamoto wanted his report, and I didn't want to have to face his wrath for having it come in late. Not that it might not already be late. My brain is _way _too tired to start pondering the consequences of the time change between here and Japan. I dipped the quill in ink and started writing.

**To: Yamamoto Soutaicho**

**From: Hitsugaya Taicho**

**About: Wizarding Mission**

***You should have received a recording of the conversation between myself and Albus Dumbledore in the tube with this letter. Listen to it before reading the report.**

**I arrived in England with Dumbledore and have been stationed underneath Harry Potter's house to protect him while I wait for the school year to end. I suspect he might be Voldemort's last Horucrux as well. I am looking into that to see if there is any way to safely separate Voldemort's soul from the boys and destroy it.**

**Please contact Urahara Kisuke to see if there is any way to track the Horucruxes using the spells they are bound with or the specific aura of Voldemort's soul. Also, I will require fifty self detonating kido-type fire explosives from him to create an evacuation/obliteration plan for the school should I fail in this mission. A second copy of the plan is included in the tube for your information.**

**I traveled to a wizarding community today in order to buy supplies for the upcoming year. The technology and abilities they possess are quite amazing and I fear that should Aizen get his hands on them we will be in big trouble. Wizards themselves are not a threat to Shinigami, as their spells are based more on precision than destruction. The threat lies in what Aizen could do if he combined our Demon magic and their Wizarding magic together.**

**I am now back at Harry Potters House. I will report in two days unless something happens.**

I sighed and set that aside, I would send them all at one. First however, I needed to plan that escape route. The plan had to be so blindingly simple that _anyone _could follow it. I decided to use the classical 'arrows on the floor' plan. Basically, if the alarm is sounded a large recorded voice will tell everyone to follow the arrows that lead to the nearest exit. The arrows will 'magically' appear. It will then lead them to a safe location, which in this case will be a portal leading somewhere far, far away from both Hogwarts and the Soul Society. Then, with all the students gone I'll be able to trigger the explosives and destroy the castle.

We used this _all _the time in the Soul Society. Our habit of smashing buildings meant that we had to know how to get people out of them fast.

I spent a good three hours working on the plan, writing detailed instructions and creating copies of the map with arrows, exits and the positions of explosives drawn in. I was being insanely detailed, and Hyorinmaru fell asleep at least halfway through, muttering about how just because I had a job didn't mean he needed to spend his free time looking over my shoulder. It took me another two hours to finish the duplicate copy for Old Man Yamamoto. I gave the heap of papers a quick look over, carefully rolled them up in a neat bundle and shoved them in the tube. Looking through his window I saw that Harry Potter was still fast asleep.

I darted down to the room and put the stuff I would need to give Dumbledore on the table. Nothing was coming tonight; it was well past three in the morning. Setting my Soul Pager to respond to any new spiritual pressure in the area, whether it be wizard, hollow, or some bastard combination of the two (and setting to volume of the ringtone to 'extremely loud and obnoxious' so that I wouldn't miss it) I climbed into the bed in the corner of my room and fell asleep in under thirty seconds, not even bothering to adjust Hyorinmaru so he wasn't jabbing me in the back.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I was woken up by the loudest, most obnoxious beeping noise known to man-kind.

I wish I could say that I had a nice, long, relaxing nap. But I think I needed about twenty more hours of sleep before anything 'relaxing' was possible.

_Damnit! I've been asleep for less than twenty minutes. Why me?_

_**Actually, Master, you've been asleep four hours. It's eight o'clock. Don't worry; the boy hasn't woken up yet. I've been keeping watch.**_

_Thanks._

I grabbed the Soul Phone, jumping out of bed I climbed out into the open. It was a beautiful, sunny day. That was exactly the kind of day I _didn't _want. There was more of a chance that Potter would be outside if it was sunny, and more of a chance he could see me. Not to mention that if there was a human in this town with spiritual pressure then they would be able to see me to. And that would kind of defeat the purpose of 'undercover'.

Checking the Phone I noticed that it was a wizard.

I carefully hid myself from view as I walked into the park area, pulling the hood of the sweater I was wearing up over my head to hide my hair, and putting Hyorinmaru back into the bracelet. I walked over to the swings, since hiding in plain sight was better than hiding out of sight. Glancing over I saw the toad-like Umbridge woman. There was also a man in a bowler hat standing beside her. I was far enough away that they weren't worried about me overhearing them. Little did they know though, I had very good hearing.

"So this is the place you plan for it to happen?" the man asked, his voice a whisper.

"Yes, Minister." so this man is the Minister of Magic, "The boy will never know what hit him. Either the dementor will suck out his soul, or he'll be forced to use underage magic to defend himself from it and we can expel him." the woman's voice was still sweet and sugary, like she wasn't discussing something worse than murder. What were these dementors? Whatever they were, I _definitely _didn't think anything that sucked out someone's soul should be allowed to live. It sounded exactly like a hollow.

"And if Dumbledore has someone here to protect him?" Damn, I _really _wish I still had that tape recorder. Charging Delores Umbridge and Cornelius Fudge with murder and having them tossed out would make my life _so _much easier.

"Then we'll just have to try again. There's no way they can foist it back on us, correct?"

"No, we'll just claim it was a case of rogue dementors and that it was all just a horrible accident."

_**We're good at horrible accidents, too, Master. What are we thinking for these two? Spontaneous combustion? Accidental freezing? Maybe accidental stabbing or impaling?**_

I chuckled at the thought, _I doubt that will go as good as we hoped. They'd just blame Harry for murder._

We stopped talking to listen to the conversation, "Wonderful. You'll take care of the rest?"

"Yes, Minister. The dementors will be here tonight." there was a cracking noise and Fudge vanished, Umbridge waited for a few seconds before there was another crack and she vanished too.

I started heading back towards Harry's house using flash step. If that boy was going to get attacked today then I was going to be sticking to him like a burr. I watched as he sat under a window in his garden looking for muggle news on the television. Poor boy. Dumbledore was keeping him completely secluded, he probably had no _idea _what was going on in the wizarding world where his friends were. This had to be killing him.

Eventually he crawled out from under the bush and started walking down the street. I jumped from rooftop to rooftop to follow him, knowing that normally while people look all _around _them to see if they're being followed, they almost never look _above _them.

Eventually Potter got to the park he had just been at, sitting down on a swing and moving back and forth. He looked surly and angry, but then again if I were him then I would have looked surly and angry too. I actually debated going down to swing next to him and talk to him, but I didn't really have a good cover story. He would see me at Hogwarts and wonder how I had been there if I was supposedly from Japan. And things would go downhill from there. Potter sat there until it started to get dark out. My nerves were on high alert, looking for something.

A group of boys started to approach Potter and I sighed. Typical neighbourhood bullies. Potter should be able to take care of them _easily. _Luckily for both of us though, they weren't anywhere near him. The entire gang seemed intent on lavishing Harry's cousin in praise. I was planning to stick around a bit longer when I felt the spiritual pressure of something very, very bad appear. Harry was approaching his cousin and not looking in my direction. The dementors weren't close enough yet for him to notice, and I had no intention of letting them get near him.

I took off at a sprint towards where the hollow-dementors were.

The lights around me were dimming and I felt tired, I put it off to a lack of sleep and pressed on.

Standing on top of a rooftop I looked down at the two creatures below me. They both paused, and I felt the slight drain of my reiatsu that meant they had noticed me and begun trying to 'taste' my energy and suck it in. They were some of the smaller hollows that I had seen, but that could either be really good, or really, really bad.

Holding out my hand I said, "Arise and rule, Hyorinmaru!" the familiar hilt appeared in my hand and I sighed in relief when I felt Hyorinmaru's power go through me, taking off some of the pressure from the dementors.

I also felt Potter and his cousin coming closer to me.

The dementors seemed torn between going for the more powerful, tastier treat that was me, and going for their assigned target; Harry Potter. I took a few steps closer to them, but started to feel weak. Depressed. Like I wanted to go curl up in a corner and die somewhere. Like I would never be happy again. I actually saw some of my reiatsu flowing towards them at a very rapid pace.

I jumped backwards, wrapping my reiatsu around myself in a protective cloak, not wanting to know how badly this would affect me if I got right beside it. The affects had grown exponentially after only walking a foot. If I got too close I knew this thing would drain me of all my energy. I had to stay far, far away from it.

Looks like I'm using Kido to kill these things, since Hyorinmaru requires either getting close to stab them or releasing my shikai and creating a small blizzard. I decided to go for powerful, but still subtle so that Potter and his friends wouldn't come around the corner to find me flinging lightning or something equally absurd. Not to mention there would be less of a chance of me triggering wiped memories if Potter saw me using kido and I had to wipe his thoughts of the incident, since I normally fought with Hyorinmaru and rarely used kido.

"_Seeping crest of turbidity, arrogant vessel of lunacy. Boil forth and deny, grow numb and flicker, disrupting sleep. Crawling queen of iron, eternally self-destructing doll of mud. Unite, and repulse. Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness! Hado ninety, Kurohitsugi!" _I finished the chant and felt the energy to create the spell being ripped from my body. This was by no means a simple spell, and it took me a few seconds to stop feeling lightheaded. It destroyed the first dementor in a neat little bundle; forming a black coffin around it and then stabbing it with purple beams of energy. When the coffin disappeared, there was nothing left of the first Dementor. I gasped in breaths of air, one down, two to go.

Unfortunately, there was still one more Dementor, and Potter and his cousin had just walked around the corner. "What do you mean, I'm not brave when I'm in bed," Potter snapped at his cousin, "What am I supposed to be frightened of. Pillows or-"he cut himself off as he saw the scene in from of him. I made sure my back was turned to him so he couldn't see my face.

"Potter," I ordered him, and he started.

"How do you know my name?" I could hear the shock in his voice.

"What's wrong with you," his cousin sneered.

"Your cousin can't see me or this dementor. Just take him and run like hell. Unless you _feel _like getting your soul sucked out, then be my guest and stick around." I had a pretty good guess about how these things got you dead, since they were still trying futilely to nibble away at the edges of my vast reiatsu. Their draining effects would probably kill a human within minutes, me on the other hand... let's just say it would take a couple of hours at this rate of absorption.

Harry Potter pulled out his wand.

"Do you want to get expelled!" I yelled at the same time as his cousin yelled, "What are you doing with that _thing_?"

"Dudley, run!" he yelled, "There's really bad wizard thing at the end of the street. If you don't run you'll die." I wondered idly whether or not he was talking about me or the dementors.

_**Obviously the boy has a hero's complex even worse than yours. **_

_Once again, shut up._

"I don't see anything-" Dudley stopped short as I saw the mist like reiatsu from the dementor hit him. He started convulsing, saying, "H-harry, w-w-what a-are y-you d-doing?"

Harry moved to cast a spell. I did the first thing that came to my mind, "Sai!" I yelled, and he fell, arms pinned behind his back.

"What the hell!" he bellowed, "Just who do you think you are? You tiny little freak! That thing will kill us both!"

Gee, how nice. He's calling me a freak and he hasn't even seen my face yet. This kid has _wonderful _manners.

Lucky for him, Dudley was unconscious now, and therefore couldn't contemplate how his cousin was batshit crazy and yelling at nothing while simultaneously casting a spell that robbed him of bodily feeling and made him feel depressed.

"Potter, next time I tell you to grab your cousin and run, please listen to me. If you cast magic, you'll be expelled; it's as simple as that. Do you want to get expelled?" I spoke as if I were talking to a two year old, and he really didn't like it.

The dementor was confused, looking between me, Harry and where the other dementor had just been. It didn't move, I guess having its partner killed had fired its circuits.

"Now, watch closely and maybe you'll be able to figure out how to do this." I turned to the hollow, my main reason for using such a complex spell was that it was fairly subtle and wouldn't let Harry know something was up unless he came and ran right into it. He did run into it, however, so subtlety was no longer a necessity. "_Hado thirty-three! Sokatsui!" _The usual blue lightning shot out of my hand, ripping the hollow into pieces and showering blood everywhere. It was messy, not that I cared, but I think Potter almost threw up. Dudley started to come about.

"You little twerp," he picked Harry up by the collar, and I jumped up onto the nearest rooftop where he couldn't see me and listened emotionlessly as the two of them bickered, "You nearly killed me, what the hell was that and why are your arms stuck like that." he tried to pull Harry's arms apart, but only succeeded in making Harry wince.

_**You might want to undo that, Master.**_

I undid the spell and Potter was free to use his arms again. "I don't know," Harry said, standing up, "There was a dementor and it was about to attack us..." he trailed off, "It knocked you unconscious and used magic to bind my arms. Then it just left..."

"I didn't see any monster."

"You can't see it, you're a muggle. I think you must have scared it off though, there'd be no other reason why it left."

Hyorinmaru chuckled, _**I have to admit it though, the Potter kid knows how to bribe his cousin into believing him. By the way, you might want to sneak up behind them and steal their memories with that dust you have.**_

_Fine._

I jumped off the roof and pulled the capsule out of my pocket, Harry turned to me, "So you decided to come back? Who are you-"

"Sorry about this," I cut him off and held out the dispenser.

_Click!_

The powder poofed everywhere, I had originally intended not to use it and let Potter come to his own conclusions. Then I realised having him remember the rather specific- and Japanese-sounding- fighting style I used might be a very bad idea when he found out there was a Japanese exchange student who was the approximate size and height of the one who saved him. Holding my breath I darted off and hid again.

Potter and Dursley coughed and looked at each other, "Why'd you throw that bag of flower at me?" yelped Dudley.

"Because you were being a git and making fun of my dreams! Voldemort murdered my parents and then murdered Cedric Diggory and..."

I ignored the two idiots and started walking away.

_**Oh dear, looks like Potter is the English version of Kurosaki Ichigo. He runs around trying to save the world while simultaneously getting his ass kicked repetitively.**_

_Damn, and here I thought we'd finally escaped the idiot._

_**You have to admit, Ichigo is a valuable ally.**_

_Yes, but that doesn't stop him from being a pain in the ass. Really, the idiot blows up more buildings in one day when he's fighting than we do in a year. He had absolutely no control of his reiatsu._

_**And he keeps everyone together in times of great trouble by blindly blowing up the enemy.**_

_The key word in that sentence is 'blindly'. He hits us just as often as he hits them._

_**And he was a lot of help in the whole 'Kusaka incident'.**_

_Sure, sure._

_**You're not going to agree with me on this are you?**_

_Well, it's not that I don't respect Ichigo; he's an altogether good person. It's just that he's really, really annoying._

_**What has he ever done to you?**_

_A lot._

_**Name a specific incident.**_

_... Well... he... errr... he distracted everyone so that we couldn't get to the bottom of Aizen's murder and stop Rukia's execution. We would've saved her eventually, but Ichigo had to come in and make mincemeat of our squad men. Albeit, I don't mind that he beat some of the Captains. They've had it coming to them for a while now, but he didn't have to kill half my squad! Not to mention his 'great plan' gave Aizen an opening to reveal his plot and run for it with the Hogyoku._

_**We could really blame everyone in the Seiritei for that, and you know it. You're reaching. Find a better reason.**_

_He refuses to call me Captain Hitsugaya, which is disrespectful. I've asked him time and again to stop, but he just keeps on doing it._

_**Is that really worth hating him over?**_

_I've never said I hated him, I've only said that he annoys me. Which is true. He annoys me so much I want to kill him sometimes._

_**Well don't. He's still a good person... if a little odd.**_

_I didn't plan to. I don't know if you've noticed yet, but anyone who's at Captain level is a little odd. We've got old man Yamamoto, who's over two thousand years old and the most normal of us all. Captain Soifon is an emotionless murderer who will execute you no matter what the order is, and she'll jump you if you so much as mutter anything related to a certain cat woman. Gin liked to emotionally scar everyone around him, and psychological warfare does not work well on the clinically insane; a medical definition applicable to everyone in the Seiritei. Unohana is utterly terrifying, I don't know why, no one does, but everyone does exactly what she says when she says it. She has more control than the Captain Commander. Are you getting what I'm saying?_

_**No, please continue. I'm enjoying this.**_

_Alright then. Captain Kuchiki doesn't spend any time at all with his squad, he's so hung up on pride. He even went so far as to try to execute Rukia. I mean, come on! Byakuya would do anything to protect his sister normally. When would a sane, rational person ever make the huge jump from that to doing something like that? Then there's Captain Kyoraku, who's more than slightly drunk on the best of days, and he keeps trying to grab at Matsumoto! Then there's Komamura, who- although he is quite a nice guy- looks like giant wolf and his gigai is some stray dog. And now I know you get it, Hyorinmaru, and anything else I say will be for your own enjoyment._

_**No, seriously, I'm enjoying listening to your opinion. Keep talking.**_

I knew I probably shouldn't have kept talking, but it was so tempting...

_Then there's Tosen, who only ever talked about 'true justice'. I mean, why on earth would Tosen go off with Aizen? We know it's not because he's brainwashed. He has to be the only person on this planet unaffected by Aizen's brain destroying skills. What kind of justice comes from elevating Aizen to godhood? Not to mention how he keeps rambling on about the path of least bloodshed, and that being the only thing his eyes can see. Honestly. I know he's blind and all, but you would think he could see the pile of mutilated fighters Aizen left behind him when he 'ascended' to Hueaco Mundo. Then there's Ukitake, and he's not bad. Although sometimes I wonder about him. Do you remember that time he persuaded all of Kenpachi's newer recruits that the blood he coughed up was actually lethal venom and he could shoot it in a twelve mile radius when he activated his bankai? They haven't gone near him since. And then there's Kenpachi Zaraki. Do I even need to say anything about him? That guy is completely and utterly insane. I have never seen anyone better covered by the term 'batshit crazy'. _

_**True, you know sometimes I worry about how Yachiru is going to turn out when she's done growing up.**_

_Don't we all. And then there's Kurotsuchi. He's another one that I don't need to say anything about. And that's about it._

_**Aren't you forgetting someone?**_

_Who? Aizen? I mean, I definitely don't have to explain him. The guy is trying to elevate himself to godhood. Doesn't get any crazier than that._

_**Someone else.**_

_Old Captain Kurosaki? He left, remember. Fell in love with Ichigo's mom. Although, I have to admit that his habit of waking me up by jumping through my window at three in the morning was bloody annoying. You'd think after that time I froze his arm he would've stopped. Urahara is a druggie/ mad scientist who enjoys pretending to be a humble shopkeeper while manipulating everyone around him to do his bidding. Shihoin turns into a cat and enjoys going around jumping between forms and flashing people, which is disgusting._

_**I still think you enjoyed it when she did that. **_

_I did not! _

_**There's still another captain, you know.**_

_Renji or Ikkaku? They both have Bankai, I suppose. For all that Renji's is still fairly untrained and Ikkaku is trying to hide his._

_**Nope. You're still cold. It's someone you know really, really well.**_

_I'm always cold. And who else is there- oh. Ha ha . . . very funny. I am well aware that I am insane. The fact I put up with you is a good demonstration of it. _

Hyorinmaru let out a low chuckle and the two of us went into our little basement room. I was tired, using several high level kido spells had drained me. Not to mention that that dementor had more of an effect than I originally thought it would. With the adrenaline of the fight running through my veins and the protections I put up with my reiatsu I had been able to temporarily push away the effects of the dementor, however, it only worked _temporarily._

The dementors obviously drained a lot of my energy; Luckily, I was at Captain level and had enough energy to spare. If it had been someone of a lower power level then things could have gotten really sketchy. And I mean really, really sketchy. Not only that, but it had affected my _emotions. _In the Soul Society we are taught that when fighting emotions only hinder us. I was therefore quite skilled in keeping them in check (with the obvious exception of when Hinamori is involved, because I _know _it's my duty to protect her and she's like a sister to me). I wasn't called the ice captain for nothing. So how on earth had the dementor managed to pierce my very well constructed emotional barrier and hit me with those depressing feelings?

It was bloody annoying.

Not only that, but it had seemed like the dementors had been trying to feed off of more than my reiatsu. My reiatsu had been the only thing that they could reach. I wonder . . . if I had gotten too close to them . . . would they have ate my soul- ate me- instead?

It was a scary thought, especially since the draining effects would have become greater the close I got. I had been almost sixty, maybe even seventy feet down the street from them, and I still felt the power. If I had been close enough to land a hit then I doubt that I would have been able to lift my sword high enough to do so.

The fact was that there were enemies in this world that I was not prepared to fight. Those dementors were one of them. If I had gone for a blind attack with shunpo instead of standing back to study them then I wouldn't be here right now.

Oh well, best to not let the past bother me. I would get as much sleep as I could tonight since I doubted that the ministry would try for two attacks in one night. Tomorrow I would send a report to Old Man Yamamoto about what had happened. Then I would study magic for a while, most likely I would read up on all the defensive spell books. I doubted that that 'Monster Book of Monsters' that was currently frozen shut would tell me about all the different types of monsters in the wizarding world. The library at the school was probably more useful and more organized for that. Not to mention that- from what I've seen- all the really dangerous monsters are mentioned in the defence books. Then I would read up on charms because it seemed useful. All the other subjects could wait for me to learn them.

With those last thoughts I got changed into more comfortable clothing, put Hyorinmaru in his released form so I could grab him and go if I was attacked, and set the Soul Phone to 'loud and obnoxious' again. About halfway through doing all of this Harry and Dudley got home. Harry's 'Uncle' screamed at him a bit until Harry went to bed. I followed suit and crawled into mine.

I slept soundly, with almost no dreams. Well, there was one where I was in my inner mind. That was to be expected though, I always went there when I slept since sleeping was so close to meditation. Sometimes I would talk to Hyorinmaru while I was sleeping, sometimes I would train within my own mind.

I was too tired for that tonight.

And that fact was an oddity in itself. I never felt tired in my inner world if I was there while I was sleeping, not until I had gotten seriously beat up by Hyorinmaru in training anyways. I shouldn't have been tired until I started training though, and I hadn't started yet.

"It must be the dementors." Hyorinmaru said, walking over into the center of the frozen plane to help me stand. He was in his human form right now, which was a good thing since I doubted I would be up to scuffling with the Bankai form tonight.

I nodded.

"You should rest, Master. Sleep here. Putting your inner mind to sleep will help heal not only the damage done to your body, but the damage done to it as well."

I nodded again, about to say that was probably a good idea, but then my world- or rather my mind- went dark and I had the strangest sensation of falling.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **

**Chapter Six- Wizards, Witches and Werewolves, Oh My!**

**Hitsugaya POV**

I don't know if any of you have done this before, but for those who haven't- and most likely those who can't- I'll tell you one thing; passing out in your own mind after already having passed out in your body is a bad idea. Mostly because there's no way for you to wake up until your mind decides it's healed itself, which could take anywhere from three seconds to three years. I'm sure you could figure out why _that _would be a problem.

Another reason is that- obviously- if you're passing out in succession like that, then there's obviously something very, very screwed up with you right then. And even worse, until you wake up there's really nothing you can do about that problem.

The next reason, although it only really applies to me, is that if you have an annoying, second entity living within your mind they tend to freak out. Big time. So naturally, when I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the ceiling twelve hours later, I woke up to Hyorinmaru 'poking' me with a mental hand.

_**Master? **_

Poke.

_**Maaaassssttteeeeerrrr? **_

Poke.

_**Damn kid. Wake up already! **_

Poke . . . Poke . . .

_**Toshiro? **_

Poke . . . Poke . . . Poke . . .

_**Hitsugaya-Taaaiiiiichooo . . .**_

Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke.

_**Shiro-chan!**_

Poke, poke, poke, poke, poke, poke, poke . . .

_**Damn, he really is out if he's not spazzing out at me for calling me that. Maybe I need to poke harder.**_

POKE! POKE! POKE!

_**Damnit! Wake up already, Hitsugaya. This is not funny. If I find out you're faking it then I'm not letting you learn a new attack for weeks.**_

POKE-POKE-POKE-POKE-POKE-POKE

_**Shiiiiiirrrrroooo-chhhaaaannn!**_

"Shut up you stupid hunk of ice! I'm trying to sleep here. What part of 'those dementors stole half my energy' don't you get. I'm keeping an eye on Potter, so butt out! And for God's sake- stop with the goddamned poking!" I yelled, accidently yelling it out loud in a burst of fury. I don't know if you've ever had anyone poking you inside your _mind _but it is ten times more annoying than anything Matsumoto could do to me. Mainly because I can shut her and all her annoyingness out. Have you ever tried shutting out a giant talking ice dragon living in your brain? Trust me when I say it's virtually impossible.

"I certainly hope you're not talking to me." a familiar voice said.

Well, shit.

I sighed, this was_ just_ what I needed right now. "Hello Dumbledore-sama. And no, I wasn't talking to you. I apologize if I seemed like I was. Hyorinmaru and I were having a _discussion._"

I hadn't even noticed the old man's spiritual pressure. Was he blocking me? I turned to look at him and saw no traces of his energy. Either he had lost all of his powers, or he was blocking me. Great, this is even better. Today is off to an _awesome_ start.

"Perfectly alright, my boy." he chuckled, and I managed to keep a straight face at being called boy.

Standing up and walking over to the armchair across from the one he was sitting in I said, "Why have you been cloaking your reiatsu?"

"I wanted to see if this technique would work to hide it. That way if Aizen attacks Hogwarts then I'll have a way of hiding the students from him and then sneaking them out. What do you think?" he asked calmly.

"I think it has promise, however, I suggest we perform more tests on it before we rely on it. As I'm sure you just heard in my little outburst, I'm not at full strength right now and therefore my senses aren't the sharpest. Not only that, but who knows what kind of things Aizen will create with the Hogyoku. If one of them has the ability to negate a wizard's magic then it won't work."

"Speaking of the dementors..." he trailed off.

"My apologies, I planned on sending you a report as soon as I woke up, but obviously you got here before I could do so. Basically it started yesterday morning. I noticed a pair of unknown wizard's reiatsu and went to investigate. It was Cornelius Fudge and Delores Umbridge. They were plotting to either murder him and make it look like an accident, or expel him for defending himself by using magic outside of school. I was watching Potter when I felt the dementors' reiatsu and went to go fight them. Harry followed me and we fought."

Dumbledore paled, "So I take it that since Harry is still alive that he used _Expecto Patronum. _That is the only way to fight it off, and you do not know it yet. I shall have to prepare instantly, the ministry won't let this lie." He stood up to run out the door and I slid in front of him, stopping him.

I had a calm expression on my face and a wry smile formed on my lips, I loved the look on people's faces when they realised I wasn't just a kid. "Tsk," I said, clicking my teeth, "Have some more faith in me, Dumbledore-sama. Harry never lifted a finger, and I took out the dementors before he even noticed anything was up. I didn't even have to use Hyorinmaru. The dementors only stood as oddities because of the amount of my energy that they stole. They weren't very difficult opponents at all, they were slow, stupid and weak."

Dumbledore threw me a shocked look, "You _killed _them. That's... impossible. No one can kill a dementor, they're only ever scared off with our spells. No one can _kill _them."

"Do they regenerate or something?" If that was the case I had a problem, "If they have some sort of secret defence then we should probably be moving Potter to a safer-"

"No. They don't. It's just that, no one's ever been able to land a powerful spell, or even hit. They get all their energy drained before they can."

"Oh. Just that? As a Captain I have _way _too much energy at my disposal. If I had just stood at that distance and not used two kido spells to kill the dementors then it would have taken them a year or so to drain my power." I said with a shrug, "Don't scare me like that. I thought you were going to say that the dementors had a release from or something."

"Specifically, how did you kill them."

"Two high level kido spells. I basically trapped one of the in a coffin made of black power that then had sharp bolts of energy stabbed into it- killing the dementor. For the second one I was in a bit of a rush since Harry was getting closer, so I just blew it up. Actually, that second one wasn't really a high level kido spell. There's no finesse involved in using it. It's one of those 'point and shoot' ones."

"Yet it still killed a dementor." Dumbledore raised his eyebrow.

"Dementors are basically hollows. Our spells are made to kill hollows." I said, shrugging it off. I knew this man was supposed to be an ally, but I wasn't so comfortable with him knowing our ways yet.

"Still, it's impressive that you were able to immediately evaluate the situation and destroy them. I have to congratulate you on thinking fast."

I shrugged again, "It was nothing. Anyways, I have your plan to evacuate the school ready. The extra supplies we need to make it work will be coming from Japan soon."

He squinted at the map, "It looks complex."

"It'll be hard to set up, but easy to put into action. We use the same one a lot in the Seiritei and it works quite well." Not that I'm going to tell him _how _we know it works so well, it was actually kind of embarrassing how often the 'Court of Pure Souls' got trashed.

He nodded, "Alright then."

There was another moment of awkward silence, and I said, "I'm going to assume there's another reason you're here."

"Hagrid mentioned an incident that happened in Diagon Alley."

_**Tattle tale. **_Muttered Hyorinmaru irritably, he seemed to be under the impression that Hagrid should have kept quiet about any of the things that happened. Well, except for the thing in the Leaky Cauldron. We wanted him to know about that so he could fix the problems with his organization.

_Hagrid is just doing his job. Technically we're tattle-tales too since we're constantly reporting to Old Man Yamamoto._

I just stood there with a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

"Actually, to be honest, he mentioned several." Dumbledore seemed worried about something.

"Just say it, Dumbledore-sama."

"Alright then. He said that you flattened Dolores Umbridge in the Leaky Cauldron, and got a group of twenty or so people to put up defences against Voldemort in case he really was back. He said that he confronted you afterwards, because he thought you had put them in danger by doing so. Apparently you gave him a reason, but his exact words were 'Go ask the kid, he'll explain it better than I can'. So this is me asking, how did you do that and why did you do that?"

"I did it by giving them proof that Voldemort might be back and the Ministry might be crooked. And I did it as a neutral. All the people you have trying to spread the world are known supporters of you, right?"

"Yes." he gestured for me to continue.

"Then they won't work. I know it may not seem like it, but there are four groups involved in this war. The ministry, the order, the death eaters and the normal people. The groups will only listen to other people in their groups, because those are the people they trust. What you need to do is have people pretend to be normal people and then go out and persuade the other normals to become 'order' members, and by that I just mean people willing to fight Voldemort. It's what the ministry is doing, why do you think Dolores Umbridge was in that pub?"

"And the fact that getting them on our side put them in danger?"

Here we go with this explanation again.

"They were in danger anyways. Voldemort kills everyone else anyways. We might as well give them a fighting chance so that they can survive. Besides, the Order is composed of those normal people. In a war like this you need all the help you can get." I explained simply, a bored tone in my voice.

"Still, there's a difference between getting people to protect themselves and mobilizing them to be an army."

"Yep. I got the people to defend themselves; you created an army with the Order. That group of people in the pub only want to find out the truth about Voldemort first. Whether or not they decide to fight them after that is unknown."

Hey, I'm only telling the truth. I'm not _trying _to offend Dumbledore.

He sighed and leaned back in the chair, "Members of the Order all have the ability to defend themselves from an outright attack."

"Therefore shouldn't we give these people a chance too?"

He nodded, "I know, it's just for years the Order has been a small group of people."

"That didn't work last time, so let's try something new." I said, shaking my head back and forth.

"I suppose I could get Tonks to change her appearance and try the idea," he mused softly, "Ah well, that's beside the point. Continuing on to the next event. According to Hagrid you had a spot of trouble in Gringotts. Something about the dragon acting up and you going to fight it?"

I shook my head, "Hyorinmaru is a dragon, the dragon at the bank thought I was holding him hostage and wanted to free him. The two of us just had to explain that that wasn't the case and then leave. I'll admit, evading the traps so I could stop the dragon before it hurt anyone was interesting, but there was never any danger."

Dumbledore chuckled a low, deep rumbling noise. "You surprise me more and more, Captain. Gringotts is supposed to be very hard to break into. No one's ever succeeded before. Well, one person has, but he was a special case."

"I wasn't exactly trying to break in. I doubt I would have been able to do it if I were trying to break into one of the actual vaults." I said, attempting to be modest.

Hyorinmaru started laughing softly. _**Modesty really does not suit you, my friend.**_

"Still, to avoid the traps the goblins set is impressive. I see that things, although a little odd, went well yesterday, so let's leave the past in the past. I actually came here for another reason other than to interrogate you. We wish to move Potter to the location of the Order of the Phoenix now. Although probably not safer, he'll be happier there with his friends. If I send a group to pick him up will you defend the group from Death Eaters?"

"Of course..." I trailed off, "However, if Hagrid's reaction was anything to go by then I'm going to guess and say they don't know very much about my abilities. If I'm going to work with a group then we need to know all about the other's abilities, or else we'll only get in the way. Is there any way you can arrange for them to meet with me?"

"Of course, they'll visit you this afternoon before they take Potter out at around three in the morning. That should give you plenty of time to get acquainted with them. Potter has just received a letter from Mr. Weasley telling him some friends will come pick him up. His family is out tonight at a phoney green lawn competition, so we should have clear reign. Are you comfortable with this mission?"

"Of course."

That was a lie. I hated playing bodyguard, a fear that had developed after the incident with the Oin when Kusaka stabbed me and stole it. I had no problem fighting someone, but fighting a group of people while keeping an eye on something was a pain in the ass. Oh well, a mission is a mission and I have to do my best to aid Dumbledore.

"You have a plan, I assume."

Dumbledore nodded, "Alastor will brief you when he gets here. Don't be too intimidated by his appearance. I have a feeling the two of you could become quite accustomed to fighting with each other." He stopped talking, leaving me to wonder just what this 'Alastor' looked like. I wondered if this weird was 'Komamura' weird or 'Gin' weird.

"Good." I finished.

"By the way, I haven't made your rank in the Soul Society clear to anyone. I forgot to tell you to keep that a secret, I've told Hagrid and he'll be quiet too."

"May I ask why?"

"Then you'll always have an out, if they ask you to do something you're uncomfortable doing. Also, it will be easier for them to accept you this way. If you're just a normal soldier fighting then they'll work easier with you, if you let them know you're a leader for an army... well... I fell they'd have a have a harder time for that. That, and you're my trump card. I'm trying to keep you up my sleeve." With that, Dumbledore stool up and left again, I gritted my teeth, I did not want to be any card of Dumbledore's.

That, and I never wanted to be anywhere near his sleeve.

I was only strongly opinionated about one thing on the mission; I couldn't trust Dumbledore's leadership skills. He looked at things like a teacher did, impractically; he gave everyone a second chance, he tried to withhold information to protect people. I acknowledge that as a good thing for some people, however, sometimes you just have to cut the head off a snake and get it over with.

I spent my afternoon carefully packing my clothing into the trunk that I had bought in Diagon Alley. It was a close fit since I had twice the normal number of books. I took out a wand and decided to practice magic for a bit.

First though, I got changed back into my usual uniform. These World of the Living clothes Matsumoto had picked out for me were bloody uncomfortable.

Pulling out the defensive spell book I started on the first charm. It consisted of flicking my wand, yelling _stupefy_ and channelling my reiatsu for the desired effect. It took more than a couple of tries, and after I blew up the couch (causing worried shouts to come from the Dursley's house since they thought a water main had blown up) I put up a kido barrier around the room.

Eventually I managed to get what I thought was the hang of channelling the reiatsu, successfully hitting a whirling kido shield and causing it to freeze. It turned out this magic was just a less destructive form of kido. After I got the hang of it I was able to speed through the book, finishing it and the next three in a couple of hours by practicing the spells and forcing myself to memorize them. I would review them for the rest of the afternoon.

Well, as soon as I found out what that charm Ollivander had used and fixed the room, anyways. I didn't really want to have those new people I was supposed to be working with come in and see it looking like this.

I eventually found the spell I was looking for, flicked my wand and said, "_Reparo_!" When only a smashed glass in the corner of the went back to normal I sighed. This was going to take a while.

I spent a good hour fixing everything in my room, and another twenty minutes putting everything back in its place. After spending twenty years in the Soul Society- a military organization- one got used to thinking that there was a place for everything; paperwork went in piles, Rangikou tried to hide her sake under my desk, blankets were neatly put on the bed, you wore your sword at all times, etcetera, etcetera.

I then decided to take a crack at the frozen 'Monster Book of Monsters' book, figuring that we could be attacked with anything while we were transporting Potter. I unfroze it first, carefully keeping my hands out of range when it tried to take a snap at my hand.

I grabbed at it and shook it a few times, "Open up you stupid book. God, Hyorinmaru, this thing is even more stubborn then you are! And stop laughing, this isn't as easy as it looks!"

Hyorinmaru kept on laughing.

Eventually I gave up on the book, once Hyorinmaru's laughter had been replaced with boredom and I had nearly crushed my fingers several times. "You know what, I give up. I'll figure out how to read the damn book later." I froze the book again and put it back on the pile of books in my trunk.

I stared at the clock. They still weren't here yet, but then again, Dumbledore hadn't given me a time. He had just said 'In the afternoon'. Very specific of him, I know, it could be anything within a six hour range. Wonderful.

I took down the kido barrier and decided to meditate with Hyorinmaru for a little bit. "Arise and rule, Hyorinmaru." Hyorinmaru materialized in my hand and I stuck its point in the ground in front of me. Crossing my legs I started the meditation.

Meditation was easy for me now, I used to only faintly hear Hyorinmaru's voice, and I was only able to enter my inner world while dreaming. Now though I could slide in and out of my inner world in seconds, and for the most part I knew the terrain in there like the back of my hand. There was one corned I didn't know all that well, Hyorinmaru slept there and had asked me to leave it to him as his 'private space'. I had obliged, after all, when you live inside someone else's mind you're going to want to be able to keep something to yourself.

Hyorinmaru was currently leaning against a wall, his eyes half closed as he watched me walk towards him. "Hello, Master. I hope you're not wanting to learn a new technique today, you still need to learn to perfect some of the abilities so you're not afraid to use them in Bankai. More specifically I'm thinking of _Tenso Jurin_, subjugation of the heavens."

I nodded, I assumed as much, "Actually," I said, "I more or less came here to bug you about the whole incident at the bank. You said something to that dragon that's been troubling me."

Hyorinmaru nodded, standing up. The two of us began to walk across the frozen plane, with him walking behind me. "I'm aware, Master, I've been listening to your thoughts. I can't tell you however, it is forbidden for Zanpakuto to reveal information about past lives to their wielders until certain conditions have been met. You have made none of those yet."

"What are they?"

"Full and complete command of _every single last one _of my techniques, and I assure you, there are quite a few. Then you must beat me while I am using all of those techniques. It's similar to how we train now, except that instead of forcing me to reveal a new technique to defend myself, you need to force me to reveal information." he chuckled, "That has never happened by the way, you would be the first in all my line of... former lives... to do so. Just thought I'd warn you, what you want to happen probably never will."

I shot him a glare, "It will. I'll do it even if it takes me a hundred years. What are the other requirements?"

"I can't tell you them until you've fulfilled the first ones. By the way, if I were you I wouldn't aim for a hundred years. I have many, many, many techniques."

"Your point?"

"If I were you. I'd aim for a few thousand." his voice was deadly serious, without any of the usual teasing hints in it.

"For some people, it takes them a thousand years to make Captain. It took me one year. I think you can see the point I'm trying to make."

"I can. You were always in a hurry to get things done." he shook his head, like there was some great horror in it.

"Don't even _try _to pretend you're any better, Hyorinmaru. Your emotions tend to follow a path very similar to mine. You are my Zanpakuto, so don't even _try _to pretend you're any more patient than I am."

He chuckled, "Ah, my little Shinigami, how much there is for you to learn. Patience comes from age, not personality."

"Hey! I'm not _that_ young." my reiatsu whipped around angrily and more snow began falling from the sky.

"Sure, sure."

I gritted my teeth, "Well, I'm going to go train more with that wizarding stuff then, since you're in such a secretive little mood. Don't think I'm giving up though."

"I wouldn't dream of thinking so."

"Good. Because I'm going to figure out whatever it is you're trying to hide, and I'm going to figure it out _soon._" I promised rashly.

"Good. It would suck if my Master was a wimp who wouldn't even try to figure it out." Hyorinmaru replied, his usual mocking tone back in his voice. Hyorinmaru could be very, very serious. Apparently all the other Zanpakuto thought he was just like me; cold, distant, emotionless. He wasn't though; he just liked people to think he was.

Don't ask me why, it's not like _I_ ever do anything like that.

"I'm heading out then." I sat down again, crossing my legs and making the position of my mental body the same as my living one and the sliding my consciousness out of my mind and into my body; if that makes any sense at all to you.

I opened my eyes to hear some people trying to figure out how to open the trap door into my room. "Dumbledore just said to go on in..." I heard a man say, his voice trailing off as if he wasn't sure whether or not to do so.

"Might as well then." I heard them fumbling with the latch and trying to lift the door up.

I rolled my eyes and yanked Hyorinmaru out of the floor before I went to open the door.

Pushing it open I said, "Knocking works too, just for future reference."

They all jumped back, looking nervous, "Wha-" I asked.

Then I realised I was still holding Hyorinmaru in my hand.

"Oh. Oops, sorry. I didn't even realise I was holding him." I said apologetically, sticking my sword on my back. "Come one in. I don't bite."

A group of very tired looking people walked into the room, they were dressed in a motley assortment of robes. Even odder, they all had brooms in their hands. Were they planning to clean this place or something? Surely Dumbledore doesn't think I'm that much of a slob.

There were seven of them in total, and they all walked in. One of them looked at me, she was a small woman with bright pink hair and a smile etched on her face even though she looked exhausted, "Is there someone named Toshiro Hitsugaya here?"

I raised an eyebrow again, "That would be me."

"I would think he would be a bit older than you." she chuckled, "Good try though, mate. Dumbledore said he was young, but you look like you're eight."

Curse Dumbledore and his inability to explain things properly to his subordinates.

I clenched my teeth, "I assure you I am older than I look. If you were to know some way that I could prove it to you then please, say it. Then we can get onto more important things like our plans for getting Harry there safely."

A man with an eyeball strapped to his face- I assumed he was the Alastor person Dumbledore had told me about- chuckled. "Well, you're supposed to be the genius. You show us." I noticed that while he was saying it his hand was reaching into his robe.

"Obviously you've already thought of one. Otherwise you wouldn't be reaching to grab your wand and stun me so that you can show me how out of your league I am. Little do you know though, I could dodge it, block it, or kill you before you even got a chance to do so. Of course, I wouldn't kill you, because that would be childish. Even if you have all insulted me slightly by telling me I'm too young to be myself."

I expected him to back off, anyone else would have. But he did something else; he stopped reaching for the inside of his robe. It took me a split second to realise he wasn't keeping his wand in there. He was keeping it inside the sleeve of his other hand so he could pretend to grab for it and then cast a spell while I was distracted.

A split second after that there was a coloured ball of red light flying at me.

I launched myself out of the way using shunpo, knowing that it would look like I just disappeared to them I drew Hyorinmaru. All of the other wizards looked like they were in shock. "Hit the ground!" Alastor yelled.

He'd seen me. He hadn't lost sight of me when I used shunpo.

Impressive.

And slightly insulting.

They all did so instantly, throwing themselves down and throwing their brooms everywhere in a way that would have been comical if there weren't another curse flying at me. I deflected it back at him using Hyorinmaru. He ducked to avoid it and I lunged in, taking the opportunity to knock his wand out of his hand and put Hyorinmaru at his throat. His eyes widened in surprise.

Pulling Hyorinmaru away I stuck him back in my sheath. "You know, most humans wouldn't have been able to follow my movements. You are the second to ever be able to do so, and that says something about your skill as a fighter since the other 'human' to do so was Ichigo Kurosaki, and he hardly counts since he's a fully fledged. . . actually, I'm not sure what Kurosaki is anymore, but it's certainly not human. So I suppose you could say you're the _only_ human to ever do so."

I didn't count Bount and Quincy as human. They were a race all on their own. Technically wizards could be too, but I would have to be a lot more impressed with their fighting abilities before they got themselves up to that level in my opinion.

I sensed the older version of Yachiru coming up behind me, her wand drawn. "Don't even think about it." I told her, reaching up and grabbing her wrist.

She smirked, the way I had grabbed her wrist wouldn't prevent her from casting a spell. "Stu-"

"Sai." I said, simultaneously releasing her wrist while her arms flew behind her back. "Sorry," I mumbled to her, releasing the spell, "But call me a child again and next time you'll all be hanging from the ceiling." I threatened.

She grinned, "Are you insane? Why would I be upset? That was _awesome. _How in the world did you manage to do magic without a wand?"

"If I pause to explain can I get a guarantee none of you will attack me anymore? Not that I can't say I'm very impressed. You would have maybe been able to defeat a lower level Shinigami." I asked.

"Sure," said a man with the most peculiar reiatsu. He was not a human, I frowned at him, trying to recognize it and he continued almost as if he was trying to distract me, "But first I suppose some introductions are in order."

I nodded, "Those are always nice."

"Alright then, I'm Remus Lupin. This is Nymphadora Tonks-"

"Tonks." she corrected.

"-who prefers to be called by her surname." Lupin finished.

"So would you if your fool of a mother named you Nymphadora." Tonks muttered, flicking her bubblegum pink hair around.

"This is Alastor Moody, we all call him Mad-Eye." I could see why, his eye was definitely intimidating.

"This is Kingsley Shacklebolt." he pointed to a tall man with dark skin in the corner of the room, he continued telling me all the names until he got to the end of the group. They were a strange group, and their names certainly matched that description."

"Now," began Moody, "Let's get down to business. Dumbledore said you could be a great help in transporting Harry to our headquarters. Just what can you do to help us?"

"In order to tell you how you plan on getting him there and I'll see what I can do to help."

"We're going to fly using broomstick."

Fly using broomstick? Well, I suppose that's a new one. Do they just sit on them?

He continues, "Potter is one hell of a flyer, so this is the safest way. We can't set up unauthorized port-keys or apperate, and the floo network is being watched. Brooms is the only way to go. We'll fly formation around him and block any attacks. The only flaw in our plan is we don't have a rear guard to guard our backs. We only have enough man power to deal with one attack, so if they have a two pronged plan then we're doomed. I'd say you'd be able to do that, then we'd be able to concentrate on Potter while you concentrate on the enemies. Except you don't have a broom to fly with."

"I don't need one." I said calmly.

"Are you saying you can fly?" Moody barked out a laugh, "As if!"

"I can." My face was perfectly straight, even though I wanted to break out laughing at the look on his.

"You mean you can seriously fly? As in walk on air with no equipment flying?" Tonks said, her face incredulous.

"Yes." I was starting to get irritated that they were still doubting my word even though I just proved that I was more than capable. What is it with adults judging people by their age.

"No, I don't believe that at all."

"Whether you believe it or not, it's true. Now I suggest you close your mouths, you wouldn't want anything flying in there would you?"

Their mouths, which had been hanging open, closed with a loud snap.

"I won't believe this until I see this, come on. We're going outside." Lupin said firmly, "I know you're good at fighting, but isn't this going a little bit far?"

"You know Potter can see me, right?" I said pointedly.

"What and normal people can't?"

I sighed, "We'll discuss that later. Let's just get this over with."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: And we're off to Grimmauld place this Chapter, there'll be some fun stuff (for me, anyways). I hope you enjoy it!**

**Chapter Seven- Good News, and Really, Really Bad News**

**Hitsugaya POV**

I snuck up out of the trap door, with seven wizards following me. Creeping around the house we got to around the park area. The wizards had cast something called a disillusionment charm. I could still see their reiatsu and I could still see the outlines of their bodies. The colours of their bodies had changed though, and they matched whatever was behind them.

I didn't though, they wanted to be able to watch me, and casting a disillusionment charm tended to get in the way of that. Moody turned to look at me, "So, while we're heading out to the park, tell me how you plan on keeping normal humans from seeing you."

"Normal humans can't see me anyways."

"Okay... wait... what!"

"I'm Shinigami, which loosely translated means a Death God. Since I'm actually a spirit, normal humans can't see me." I shrugged, "It's simple really."

"You look pretty solid to me." said Lupin with a smile. He looked as if he were about to poke me to make sure, so I levelled out a glare capable of making the bravest person cower in fear (trust me, I know because it worked on Kenpachi Zaraki the first and last time he tried to call me _shorty_).

Taking a deep breath I answered him.

"I know, normal ghosts aren't this solid since they've lost their bodies. However, once they move on they pass through the soul cycle and kind of re-solidify. Humans can't see them, but they're not white and see through anymore."

"So you're a ghost that's passed through the cycle? Wait... you're dead!"

"Yes." I swear, this gets harder to explain every time.

That, or the humans could be getting stupider every time.

"So you've been to heaven?"

I gritted my teeth and rolled my eyes.

"I've been to the afterlife, but it's not what you would describe as heaven. It's a lot like earth actually, for the normal souls anyways, except that they don't get hungry and they all speak the same tongue."

"You say normal ghosts, what's the difference between them and other ghosts?"

"There are Shinigami, and then there are normal people. Shinigami have a higher level of spirit energy, so we still use physical energy. We sleep, eat, become hungry and can die from exhaustion. Our higher level of energy also gives us powers. I'll tell you more about them later. There are also Hollows, which are human souls who never passed on and then became monsters intent on eating other souls to fill their emptiness. They live in Hueco Mundo, a dimension parallel to the world of the living and the Soul Society."

We reached the park, "But that's all beside the point. You wanted to see me fly, so here I go." I jumped into the air, solidifying it under my feet and jumping around, "See?" I asked them, "This is really easy to do when you're dead and normal rules of physics don't actually apply to you."

They all looked suitably impressed and we carefully headed back to Potter's house. We got back inside, and Moody said, "Let's get to know our skills a little more. Everyone take a turn and tell each other what you're best at, and we'll make a plan. Tonks, you first."

Tonks frowned, as if she were thinking really hard, "Well... I'm good at the whole stealth and disguise thing, watch this!" her hair changed from bubblegum pink to long blonde, she then seemed to ponder for a bit before changing it into a perfect imitation of my hair. The white spikes definitely looked out of place on her head. "And I'm a fair hand at duelling. I'm a bit of a clutz though, so don't ask me to try and sneak around. Your turn, Moody."

"I'm good at offensive and defensive magic, this eye can also see through solid objects, which makes me a fair hand at looking for hidden ambushes." he shrugged, "I'm also a fair hand at planning and judging peoples strengths."

Lupin went next, "I'm good at defensive magic. I'm also good at identifying and dealing with several types of monster like the dementors you ran into."

I nodded, and the others went through theirs too. It was basically the same thing, they were all good at defensive magic, which was a good asset and probably one of the reasons why they were picked for this group. Moody gestured at me to go.

"Well... I guess I'm a fair hand at leading people through treacherous situations, although I'm not sure how that would work here since I don't know you all as well as I know the members of my squad."

Yes, all two hundred of them. It was my job to know their strengths and weaknesses. Our squad was better at group manoeuvres than any other squad in the Gotei thrirteen.

"I'm adept at all four categories of the Shinigami fighting styles. There's Hoho, which is the ability to move quickly and with stealth. Then there's Zanjestu, which is the ability to fight with a sword- I'm strongest there. Then there's kido, which is basically wand less magic that can either immobilize or kill someone. Then there's Hakuda, which is the ability to fight hand to hand. That last one is probably my weakest since I normally just use Hyorinmaru."

"Who?" asked Lupin, his face blank.

"My Zanpakuto." I said.

"You named your sword?" Tonks had a look on her face that said she thought Hyorinmaru and I were absolutely adorable together.

If only she knew how adorable we were in Bankai form when we were really working together. It'd rub that patronizing 'oooh they're so cute' smile right off her face.

"No, my sword named itself." I said through gritted teeth.

Didn't these people know _anything? _What the hell did Dumbledore think he was doing? He sent his men out _blind _to fight with someone who- for all they knew- could turn on them any second. What kind of leader does that (alright, I know I'm being hypocritical here. Yamamoto get us to fight against opponents we know nothing about, but at least he doesn't get us to fight _with _them).

"Your sword is a sentient being?" said Moody, his face sceptical, "How on Earth is having a sentient being in a weapon helpful. Won't the conflicting views just get in the way of your fight?"

Hyorinmaru snorted, _**Tch. Shows how much they know about true fighters. Two on one is always better than one on one. We have always known that. We will never forget it.**_

I chuckled, "Not at all. In Shikai and unreleased from the sword as the same hopes as the master. And whether the views are the same or different apparently doesn't matter in Bankai form since the form itself is so damn powerful. Loosely put, the greatest power a Shinigami has is in their Zanpakuto." I informed them, trying to give them as much information as possible so they could put the pieces together on their own and spite Dumbledore.

Not that they were spiting Dumbledore on purpose; I was just blatantly using their natural abilities and intelligence to judge their strength and throw a wrench in Dumbledore's plans. I mean, no one else cares who knows about my rank. The only person I agreed with keeping out of that particular loop was Potter, but even then I'll probably drop the occasional hint.

After all, I actually _wanted_ them to know who I was. It would stop them from treating me like a child.

Although, if I got my way that form of treatment would stop soon enough even if they never found out about my true rank.

Fourth Seats have to have Shikai, and mine was pretty damn impressive if I did say so myself.

_**I say so myself, although I'm slightly insulted because they think you're some kind of weakling. Che, as if I would let my master be like that!**_

To tell you the truth, I was kind of irritated too.

Normally, I would drop the room temperature or give someone _minor _frostbite if they insulted me in the Soul Society (or in Karakura Town, which seems to be turning into some sort of illegitimate child for all the problems in the Soul Society). People there knew what they were signing up for if they insulted me. Here, though, I was on a mission around relatively weak humans who had no idea who I was, which meant that I had to behave myself.

It was pretty damn annoying.

"Shikai, Bankai?" Moody asked, snapping me out of my mental irritation.

It was probably a good thing he had, because I was about to 'accidently' give someone frostbite.

"There are three levels to them. Unreleased." I held up Hyorinmaru to show them, "And Shikai and Bankai. Unreleased is pretty uniform for all swords, it's just a plain old sword. Shikai is where you can use one, maybe two or three of your Zanpakuto spirit's attacks. Bankai is where you merge with your sword and use all of their attacks. I've got up to Shikai, only Captains have Bankai. The Zanpakuto also help us stay sane and give us advice and companionship."

_**Couldn't have put it better myself, Master. **_

_You are my companion, _I told him softly, _whether you want to be or not you'll always be something of a friend to me._

_**I wouldn't try to have it any other way.**_

"Captains?"

"Ranking in the Gotei Thirteen is pretty simple. There are two hundred members in a squad, out of those two hundred there are ten seated officers who run the Squad. Captains have highest rank and the most power out of those seats, then Lieutenants after Captain. Everyone else is pretty much equal in power, it's just their leadership skills and initiative that determine their rank."

"What are you?"

"Fourth Seat." I answered easily, figuring that was a good place to be. It wasn't so high that they would be awed, nor was it so low they would look down on me. It would also mean that they wouldn't wonder why I wasn't a higher seat when my Shikai was so powerful.

"Pretty high up then?" Moody had a speculating gleam in his eye.

"Not really, I told you; the Captains and Lieutenants are the ones who run the Soul Society. The rest of us just do grunt work."

"But still, the fact that you have some say in matters is good news. It's the first good news we've had in a while."

I didn't want to spoil their mood, so I just shrugged. "Alright. So getting away from the good news and onto the planni-" I was cut off when a thick wad of paper flew out of the messenger tube. I darted over and grabbed it before anyone picked it up.

The last thing I needed was them reading an insultingly informal letter from Hinamori-kun.

I winced when I remembered that right now, Hinamori would not be busy writing me any letters. She was still in an induced coma in the fourth division barracks.

I sighed and started reading the letter, hoping it would be good news.

It wasn't.

Glancing briefly over it I said the first thing that came to my mind, "That son of a bitch!" I gritted my teeth and the room dropped several degrees in temperature. Everything in the room got a thin layer of frost on it and the wizards looked around in surprise.

"What is it? Does it affect us?" asked Moody, his eyes narrowed.

I nodded, "It does, and definitely not in a good way."

"Well," said Kingsley Shacklebolt, speaking for the first time, his voice was slow, deep and calm, "Tell us what it is so we can deal with it."

I sighed and read the pertaining information out loud, "Hitsugaya Toshiro, the following information has arrived to us from the Stealth Forces. Aizen Sosuke, Ichimaru Gin and Kaname Tosen's troops have formed an alliance with the wizarding criminal Lord Voldemort in order to gain the information necessary from Hogwarts. Your job has become doubly important, as you can expect attacks from both enemy forces." I turned to the other people in the room, "This is bad, by the way. Aizen's troops are powerful and probably above my level. If we get attacked by them tonight then do not attempt to help me. You should just take Potter and run, you complete your mission and I'll help you as best you can."

They nodded, "Dumbledore explained Aizen to us. He said that Aizen was really, really an ugly one. You sure you don't want help, kid?"

I shook my head, "No. Believe me when I say you'd just get in my way. I wouldn't be able to go full out with you around for fear of killing you with my reiatsu. Five seconds though, I need to respond to this and let Yamamoto know I got it."

To tell the truth, I had edited the message slightly. What it actually said was;

**Hitsugaya-Taicho,**

**The following information pertaining to your mission has arrived to us;**

**-Aizen Sosuke has formed an alliance with the wizarding criminal Lord Voldemort in order to gather the information he needs to meet his goals**

**-we have discovered that he plans to assassinate the Soul King, and he requires Wizarding Magic to get to the King's Realm.**

**-we have learned that using the Hogyoku he is breaking the barrier between Hollow and Soul reaper creating monsters called Arrancars. These Arrancars have ranks, numbers one through ten being the most powerful; those Arrancar are called Espada.**

**-The Espada were able to defeat Ichigo Kurosaki in battle, meaning they are above/at Captain level.**

**-you are now authorized to use the limit release whenever necessary**

**-you are ****not**** authorized to blow your cover, I acknowledge that it will be time consuming to keep your cover, and it will interfere with your ability to complete the mission. However, it will help you to understand both of our enemies better. That being said though, if you see Aizen then kill him whether it blows your cover or not**

**That is all, be warned, in his alliance with Voldemort one of Aizen's promises was that he would kill a boy named Harry Potter. I understand you are guarding him. Protect the boy at all costs.**

**Yamamoto-Soutaicho**

I pulled out a pen and quickly scribbled down a message about what our plans were for tonight were, and about how I had received his message. There was the usual 'message received back from him. Putting the tube down I turned to the others. "As much as this sucks though, we all have mission to complete." the wizards in the room all nodded, "Moody, what's our strategy."

It felt decidedly odd to take combat orders from someone else after commanding my forces for so many years. Sure, I took orders from Yamamoto Soutaicho, but his orders were vague and basically consisted of 'there's a hollow, go kill it'. The actual details and battle strategies for killing said hollow came from the Captain's brain.

Right now, Dumbledore was acting for the Soutaicho for these troops, and that definitely scared me.

Moody outlined a brief plan, "Same as before. We'll fly around Potter and you'll kill whatever comes in our direction. Can Potter see you?"

I shrugged, "I can wipe myself out of his memory if I need to. The Soul Society created non-harmful amnesia dust just for that purpose." I held up the Chappy tube and sighed, "Although, sometimes you have to wonder what Squad Twelve were thinking when they created it to look like children's candy."

Actually, Kurotsuchi was probably looking to see what would happen if Yachiru accidently got into it. He couldn't purposefully spike Shinigami without getting into a hell of a lot of trouble for performing experimentation on his comrades. But if someone were to 'accidently' get into them then it was just a sad mistake that needed to be dissected and rectified immediately- right?

They all nodded, Moody turned to look at the clock; more time had passed than we though. The Dursleys had left for the faux competition. It was time for us to go get Potter out of there. Moody frowned at me, "I'm going to put a disillusionment charm on you. It'll stop Potter from seeing you, and it will also give you an edge if we get into a fight."

I nodded, and let him place to tip of his wand against the top of my head. He muttered something under his breath and I had the peculiar sensation that someone had just started trickling cold water down my head. I winced, but I didn't move.

"There we go. You just keep watch, we'll do the rest." Tonks said, a grin on her face. I watched as they went in to get Potter. Frankly, I think they could have been a little less dramatic than breaking into the boy's house. Potter came down the stairs with his wand drawn, a stunning spell at the ready to take them out.

They chatted for a bit, and Potter revealed that he wasn't even packed yet. I rolled my eyes and leaned back onto the roof. Remind me never to trust wizards to be on time for anything, I swear, it's been a half an hour already. I'm going to go insane from waiting. I just want to get this thing over with. I know it will probably go badly though, so I just want to get the crash and burn over with.

_**Deep breaths, Master. You know not to rush into things. I can wait, and you can too. Just be calm and prepared.**_

_Calm and prepared. _I thought, taking a deep breath. _Yeah, that's not happening._

Eventually- after what felt like hours- they came out of the house flying on those stupid broomsticks of theirs. I rolled my eyes when I saw them slipping and sliding around on the brooms. That had to be the most uncomfortable method of flying I had ever seen. Not to mention that the higher they flew into the clouds, the colder and more soaked they became.

They must be so miserable right now.

I sighed and took another leap that took me forwards and about thirty feet ahead of them. I had discovered another problem with brooms; they were really, really slow.

Nothing much was happening and I started to relax slightly. It was a fairly dark night, and the stars were bright once we got ourselves up above the stars. I was actually starting to enjoy myself.

Of course, then things just had to go wrong.

We were flying along, and I felt the spiritual pressure of a Gargantua portal about to open in front of them. It was positioned so that it would open right in front of them and they wouldn't have the time to avoid it.

"Shit!" I hissed, raising my voice I said, "Moody! Hard left, something is about to open right in front of you! Veer left!"

The rest of the group turned with Moody, swerving left. Potter followed them, the boy obviously had good instincts. He turned to look in my general direction, he had a disillusionment charm on too, but I could still make out his movements. "Moody," he asked, "Why are we-"

And then the Gargantua opened.

It ripped though the sky like someone had pulled an immensely giant zipper open; the sound of the fabric of the dimensions tearing was immense. I drew Hyorinmaru. "Moody, I'll stay here and deal with this! Take Potter and run for it."

"What is that?" he yelled, circling back while Potter and the others on ahead.

Spiritual pressure was starting to leak through the portal. I felt the disillusionment charm starting to wear off, the reiatsu from the portal obliterating the weak reiatsu that made up the spell. Yelling at Moody I said, "I'll tell you later, you need to go _right now! _The reiatsu from that portal will knock you right out of the-"

Moody's broom fell from the sky, with him on it. "Shit." I darted down and caught him, grabbing his broom in the process. It should work once he gets away from the portal.

Using Shunpo to catch up I passed him to Tonks, "Thanks, kid." she chuckled, a smile on her face.

I ignored her. Even if I wasn't allowed to freeze her solid for calling me kid, I could still do the next best thing and attempt to erase the insult from existence by pretending that it never happened.

Turning to Moody, whose good eye was narrowed suspiciously, I said, "Next time I give you an order like that, I expect you to follow it. Not doing so could get us all killed. Now get Potter out of here." I gave the order like I would to a member of my squad, the situation was to dire for me to try to keep up any pretences. Moody nodded, and I thought I saw a brief grin and speculating look appear on his face.

It disappeared when he looked behind me.

I sighed, "And now there's a bunch of scary things behind me, right? I guess I should go deal with them."

"There's a... there's an army of monsters coming out of that portal." hissed Lupin, his eyes wide.

"All of you take Potter out of here now. There's nothing high level. I can take them out easily, however, my Shikai kind of screws around with the weather. I can't use it properly if you're around me. Moody your broom will work once you get the hell away from here."

"Let's go." said Moody. They flew away, and I waited until they were nothing more than little specks of dust in the sky. I saw Moody peel off from the group and smirked. That guy was good, a normal level Shinigami wouldn't have noticed him leaving from that distance, nor would they have bothered to think ahead and descend at a safe distance and advance on foot. Not to mention that he had put some kind of cloaking spell on.

He was good, I would give him that.

He just wasn't as good as me.

I decided to ignore Moody, if he got himself killed then it was on his own damn shoulders. I turned to face the hollows. There were only thirty of them out right now, but my concern was that the portal was still open and there were some Gillian level menos nearby. Knowing Aizen those things would be coming through the portal soon.

I decided to try and save my Shikai, sure I could use it as long as I felt like, but it was unnecessary right now. You only go up a power level if you really need to, and right now I don't need to. I lunged in and flew in and out of the thirty hollows. Killing them like that didn't put me in any danger, they were just plain low level hollows.

However, it did take a lot of time. And once I saw that Gillians come through the portal I knew that I didn't have much of a choice anymore.

I would have to go up a power level.

_**It's about time, **_growled Hyorinmaru, and his bloodlust began to go through both of us, _**I swear, sometimes your need to play nicely and follow the rules leaves a lot to be desired.**_

_Tch. _I snorted, _Do you really want to have to deal with the embarrassment of being released for a bunch of small fry?_

There was a grain of warning in that, and I felt Hyorinmaru nod in my head for agreement. You only ever went up a power level when you really needed to. If the Seiritei didn't have that one, basic, ingrained rule of combat then there would be Captains running around in Bankai form all the time to kill little hollows.

A little bit like how Ichigo Kurosaki behaved, actually, except on a much larger scale.

Not that I'm sure he doesn't have his reasons for doing so (Kuchiki Rukia would kick his ass otherwise), for all I know the useless throwing away of your reiatsu is some new training technique. Kurosaki was certainly progressing quickly.

Ah well, time to end my musings. The Gillians have finished coming through and the gargantua is closing. Time to kill some hollows.

I held my sword in the air. "_REIGN OVER THE FROSTED HEAVENS, HYORINMARU_!"

The ice dragon did two circles around me before swooping off. It made mincemeat of all the normal hollows, and it destroyed even the Gillians in seconds, ripping through them. I controlled it like it was another limb, like it was a part of my own body. It took me no effort at all to make the dragon perform complex swoops, dives and turns; in my Shikai form the dragon was a willing partner.

I felt the slight taste of blood in my mouth and sighed. The dragon was, for all intensive purposes, Hyorinmaru himself. And since Hyorinmaru was in my body I tasted whatever he tasted.

Gross, I know, but I was used to it now. At least I didn't get hurt the way Komamura did when someone slashed his Bankai.

Soon I was done and the only remnants of the short, ugly fight were a huge storm cloud, disintegrating hollow bits and a couple of chunks of ice that were falling from the sky.

England was going to be having some weird weather tonight.

Jumping down to surprise Moody, I calmly landed beside him and said, "Tch. They were small fry. We should probably catch up with Potter and the others. Are you coming?"

He smiled, "I should have known you had seen me. I'll have to admit it, kid; you're good, better than Dumbledore said. If you're this good, I wonder what your Captains are like." his eyes held a mocking smile, and I knew instantly that he didn't believe a single thing I had said about my rank.

"Oh, you have no idea." I chuckled, smirking at him, "They're a pretty scary lot. All cold and heartless... then again, I guess you'd have to be if you got asked to do what they do."

That was a warning to Moody. A warning that said if they did the wrong thing at the wrong time, no matter how much I liked them, and it turned out they weren't really my allies then I would kill them.

And from the look on his face I understood he would do the same to me.

Excellent, looks like we've come to an understanding.

That being said though, I would hate to kill this Alastor Moody. He seems like the most practical, intelligent wizard I've met of late. It's a relief that there's at least one person in this Order of the Phoenix that has some shred of common sense and sanity.

Not that I'm saying the Gotei Thirteen is any better when it comes to sanity. If anything we're worse, I think there's some secret rule written somewhere that states all powerful Shinigami must be at least somewhat crazy.

Myself included in that.

But at least we knew how to follow orders, handle ourselves in a war and find the truth.

Then again, that comes from years of practice and I doubt that anyone would want to have to deal with warfare as much as we do.

You'd have to be insane to want that.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: As was pointed out to me by Ranger Mitsuki, Hitsugaya doesn't laugh, he smirks. I apologize for that bit of OOC-ness, I believe I've gotten rid of all the giggles in this Chapter. Anyways, sorry for the slow update. I've had an NLS course all weekend, so I have had no free time to post it. It's up now, though, so I hope you enjoy it.**

**Chapter Eight- A Manor of Mythical Creatures**

**Hitsugaya POV**

I turned to Moody, "So where exactly are we going?" I called over the wind.

Moody pulled out a piece of paper, it flapped in the wind and I easily darted up and swiped it out of his hand before it had a chance to blow away. Reading it quickly, I nodded. It was nothing more than a simple address. Looking at Moody I said, "Should you really be carrying this around with you? I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but what would you do if someone from the other side got you and read that paper?"

Moody grinned, "That is exactly the kind of response I was expecting from you. To tell you the truth, I thought of the same thing so I put in a few safeguards in. If I am captured, not killed, then I will trigger it using a snap stick of sorts that I keep on my toe, I bend it, the twig snaps, and the paper goes up in flame." Alright, so I could see how that would work, but that didn't make it any less odd. Moody continued with his scheme, "If I am killed, then this will spontaneously self-combust, much similar to the way the school would in your plan."

"Ah, so Dumbledore showed you that." At least now I know that _someone _responsible has seen that plan. "What do you think, it would be nice to have a second opinion on that."

"It looked thorough, although, I don't think Dumbledore was that fond of it."

I rolled my eyes, "You'll notice I asked you, not him. Not that I mean to speak poorly of your leader, but when it comes to military manoeuvres Dumbledore's opinion leaves much to be desired. Though I am sure he is an excellent person, he wasn't quite willing to accept the fact I would destroy Hogwarts to save the Universe."

Moody chuckled, "It looked good and thorough. I assume third seats must have some power if you are that good at designing plans like that."

And here we go again, he's trying to pry information out of me. Well, two can play at that game.

"Not really," I said coolly, "That's a standard plan used in _all _buildings in my home. After a while, one gets used to setting such things up since, except for combat, most of the Captains are virtually useless and their Lieutenants are even worse." I realised the other trap he had put in that sentence, "And I seem to remember telling you I was forth seat."

"I had kind of assumed that your home was a strict place, being military and all that." Moody said, ignoring the last comment.

I sighed, even though I was actually slightly enjoying this. Everything I spoke was the complete truth, after all, but letting him know wouldn't really effect the Seiritei. Moody may be good, but he didn't stand a chance against the Captains- no matter how stupid and idiotic most of my peers are. Not to mention our true enemies- Aizen and Voldemort- already knew that. Aizen was a Captain for centuries. He's more than perfectly capable of remembering all the idiocy that went on during those Captains meetings.

What? You think they'd hold back their idiocy just because Yamamoto was there?

As if. Unless the world is ending, then nothing ever gets done there.

"If only. The Captains are all at a level of power where no one can say no to them, and since they're kind of vital we can't fire them either."

Despite what Kurosaki Ichigo makes it seem like, getting to a Captain level is not the easiest thing to do.

He chuckled, "Abuse of power?"

"More like blatant abuse of intelligence. They're all geniuses- well, with a couple of exceptions- and they're perfectly capable of understanding that knocking down half the buildings during a training session is bad. And yet," I sighed dramatically, "they still do it."

By the way, Madarame, Kurosaki, Kenpachi and Renji; you are those exceptions.

Don't think I didn't see that bit of idiocy where you all released Bankai during a training session to see who's was the most powerful, and Kenpachi took off his damned eye patch. It was kind of hard to not notice since you knocked down at least half the Seiritei; including my office.

Dumbasses.

Moody put the disillusionment charm back on me, "We wiped Potter's memory using our spells. Even if he sees you again- which he will- he won't remember you."

I shrugged, if they wanted to do it their way then that was fine with me.

We caught up with the group and Potter said, "Hey, Moody. What are you doing here?"

I nodded, that was intelligent of them. They wiped Moody from his mind too so that Moody wouldn't have to come up with an excuse for leaving.

Moody answered the boy, "I came to check up you. It took you lot a long time to notice. If I were a death eater you'd all be dead. Constant vigilance!"

I couldn't be sure at this distance, but I'm pretty sure I just saw Tonks roll her eyes. I sniggered. Wizards had some odd behaviour, that much was obvious.

Pulling up behind Moody, who was still some ways away from the group I whispered, "Moody. What am I supposed to do when we get to the house?" Moody pulled out a shrunken down version of my trunk and held it out beside him. I grabbed it and frowned, "Shrinking charm?"

He nodded, "I did it while you were on the roof and everyone else was grabbing Harry. Once we get to the house you'll become a Japanese transfer student who is staying at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters until school starts."

"And why would a Japanese transfer student be staying in a top-secret anti-Voldemort organizations headquarters?" I'll admit that while this idea is interesting, there are a couple of holes that will need to be filled before it works.

"Because we're using you as an attempt to get aid from the Japanese government. You're an undercover ambassador of sorts."

"And why are they sending a student instead of an adult?"

"Because they know the Ministry is watching Dumbledore and that they'll notice if we send an adult to Hogwarts. A child though? Harmless."

I sighed, I might be slightly offended by that. "I suppose that's true, although-"

I was cut off when I heard Tonks yell, "You done talking to yourself, Mad-Eye? People are going to start thinking that you're actually mad." Moody flew over to them, but I kept my distance. If Potter had sharp enough eyes he might be able to see my silhouette or something similar.

Which would suck.

I frowned. I needed to figure out a way to make it look like I had actually been transported to the house they were taking me to, as opposed to looking as if I had just materialized out of thin air.

Wait. I've got it.

I darted over behind Moody, bending down to whisper in his ear I said, "Moody, don't attack me or anything. I'm about to climb onto your broom behind you."

Doing that I continued, "Now, the reason you were really separate from the group was that you were here to pick me up. That way Potter won't be asking questions about how I magically arrived."

Moody chuckled, "Good thinking." he murmured quietly, without moving his lips very much. With the wind I doubted that anyone else would hear him talking. We continued flying for another twenty five minutes or so before we got to our location. We descended on a little dim residential street. I heard music playing from a house in front of us. Then I frowned; there was no number twelve in front of me. There were numbers ten, then fourteen. Number eleven and thirteen were across the street. But number twelve, Grimmauld place was suspiciously absent.

Great. Now what? If I can't get in, there'll be a problem.

Then I heard Moody say, "Now, think about that piece of paper I showed you. Potter, Mr. Hitsugaya, give me a few seconds to come take off the charms."

I said "Hai," at the same time as Potter said, "Who?"

I decided not to answer, there would be no point to it until the charm was removed. Moody came over to me first, and tapped me on the head, there was a feeling of warm water running down this time. I think I might have preferred it more before. I can't stand warm things (with the exception of tea, I need tea to survive Matsumoto).

I nodded at Harry, "Hello."

I'm almost a hundred percent positive I saw Harry's mouth fall open. It was hard to tell with the charm.

"You- what- when?" he stammered out.

I sighed, "I came here with Moody. I was riding on the back of his broom." frowning I said, "They're rather odd. We don't really use them in Japan, so I've never ridden on one before."

Come on, little fishy, take the nice bait. I know you want to ask me where I'm from. Do it and give me a chance to tell you where I'm from and a little fake story.

"You're from Japan?" Harry asked. He still had that stupid look on his face and I couldn't help but be reminded of Ichigo Kurosaki's face.

I nodded, "Hai. I'm in England on an exchange."

Harry paused, "Why are you _here_ then?"

"Dumbledore thought it would be a good idea for me to get to see the Order."

He frowned, "Oh."

He didn't believe that. Not that I expected him to, but now I would get to see whether or not he would try to figure it out. If he did, we'd go for the whole secret ambassador thing.

Moody cut us off, "Are you two concentrating on the house?"

"No." I looked briefly at my feet in a way that would show awkwardness to Potter, and then turned my head, slightly at an angle so Potter couldn't see my face, to send a smirk at Moody, who smirked back.

"Do that then." he said, briskly.

I did that and much to my surprise I felt a house slide into view. My eyes widened. That must have been some very, very complex magic. I couldn't even fell any reiatsu at all, even when it slid into view. It was totally cloaked from all senses. "Wow," Potter said. I agreed with him, but the minute I said 'wow' would be the minute I died from embarrassment.

"Interesting spell." I murmured.

We walked into the house and a plump woman with reddish hair walked in, "Oh, it's good to see you all back safely. Any trouble?"

"None at all!" Lupin said innocently.

"Wonderful!"

Turning to Harry and I she said, "Hello, dears."

Harry smiled at her, "Hello, Mrs. Weasley."

Ah, so she was the mother of the kids I saw at the store. I could tell immediately that she didn't have the mindset for fighting. She seemed to be like the mother of the Order, I could tell right now she tried to look after everyone.

I nodded at her, "Hello."

She looked at both of us with appraising eyes, "Tsk, tsk. Do any of you lot ever eat?"

I shrugged and Harry looked at his feet. She continued talking, "Well, no matter, I'll get you fed up in a jiffy."

Damn. She was one of _those _people. Sure, they were nice enough, but man did they ever irritate me.

"So," she said briskly, "Harry, Ron and Hermione are upstairs." Harry went up those stairs faster than I would have thought possible. Either he was deliriously, overbearingly in love with his friends, or he felt he could get more information from them then he had from Lupin.

Given Potter's personality, I was betting on the latter.

Mrs. Weasley turned to me, but before she could speak there was a loud crashing noise. Everyone jumped, which was to be expected since Tonks had just knocked over a rather large hat stand.

What was not to be expected, however, was the reaction of a rather large portrait. The curtains around it opened and a voice began screeching, "WHO DARE DEFILE THE HOUSE OF BLACK?"

I winced; that was a tone of voice one would normally expect from a banshee.

Unfortunately it got worse, much worse, "IMPERTINANT SCUM! WEREWOLVES, MUDBLOODS, SHINIGAMI, BLOOD TRAITORS AND FREAKS! REVOLTING SCUM, I'LL-"

The banshee's threat was cut off when Lupin and a dark haired, haggard looking man I didn't know walked over and yanked the curtains over her shut. The house became eerily silent.

I sighed, thinking of what she had said. First the bank incident, then that wand maker. Now I even have stupid _pictures _trying to blow my cover. Luckily no one seemed to have noticed, they were probably all used to it by now.

"Sirius?" Harry said, his voice shocked.

"Hello, Harry," said the man cheerfully, "I see you've met my mother."

"So this is your house, then?" Harry asked, "It's nice."

Well, nice wasn't exactly how I would describe it, but at least the boy was being polite.

Sirius chuckled, "Hn. You can have it if you want, just be warned; it comes equipped with mother dearest. Permanent sticking charm. If we don't find a way to undo it soon then I'll probably end up knocking the wall down."

Harry chuckled, and Sirius changed the subject, "So, Ron and the others obviously know you're here now. Why don't you go up to see them?"

Harry nodded, "Uh... sure. Talk to you later?"

Sirius grinned, "I wouldn't miss it."

Harry nodded and went up the stairs. Mrs. Weasley turned to me, a frown on her face. "I know this may be awkward, dear, but you should go up too. Don't worry, none of them bite."

I waited a few seconds before I responded, "Mrs. Weasley, I assume that there is a meeting for the Order of the Phoenix going on. I do need to be included in that."

She frowned, "I know Dumbledore said you were capable, but you're still just a child."

I sighed, she was _definitely _one of those ones.

"Mrs. Weasley, I assure you I am not a kid. However, this is really neither the time nor place to be discussing this. Why don't we go into the dining room? We can discuss it further there."

Hyorinmaru chuckled, _**That was politely handled.**_

_Thanks, I am however finding it difficult to control my temper right now._

_**I couldn't tell. Well, allow me to rephrase. I couldn't tell externally. Some of the icicles are starting to fall of the ceiling in here, though, and if that's any indication then you must be pissed.**_

_My apologies._

Mrs. Weasley frowned, and I said, "You can _try _to throw me out on my ear if you find my explanation dissatisfactory. I would like to point out that I said _try _since I really don't need to be proving anything. We should move away from prying ears, though."

She frowned and looked away.

Making the movement look like I was just shifting my feet I stepped backwards and slowly went to put my foot down on the ear that was somehow trying to make its way back behind the dining room door. I didn't crush it, it was a nice piece of work and that would just piss off whoever had put it there. Lifting my foot up I let a teeny, tiny amount of my reiatsu out and onto the ear, it was in such a thin, concentrated stream that I could write with it. The message carved was pretty obvious, '_Good try. Please do remember that some of us aren't blind though, and that for those of us who are, Moody's eye covers double. Don't think he hasn't seen you'_. The ear was quickly pulled backwards using the string.

I guess my message worked, because I heard someone yelp slightly when the ear was picked up.

Moody snickered, and Mrs. Weasley looked at him, "Something funny, Moody?"

"Oh, I just think it's ironic we're trying to keep Hitsugaya out, Molly. He's more than capable, we had a bit of an incident on the way here, and he dealt with it quite efficiently."

Thank God, finally _someone _was using common sense.

The ear was coming back for a second go. I guess they were more determined than I though. This time the message was much simpler, '_Honestly? Have you ever heard the say in 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me?'_

Needless to say, there were no more attempts with the ears after that.

Finally the group of adults managed to sneak past Mrs. Weasley's 'children are innocents' speech and let us in.

Frankly, if she believes all children are innocent, she's lucky she hasn't met Lieutenant Kusajiishi. That pink haired demon would make mincemeat of her.

We all sat down at the table and Mrs. Weasley glared at me, or rather, she glared at Moody for backing me up. I shrugged, "It's unnecessary to glare at Moody like that, if he hadn't brought it up then I would have worried about his intelligence."

_**That wasn't as polite this time, **_Hyorinmaru commented innocently.

_Gee, I wonder why._

Mrs. Weasley turned to glare at me, "Now I know Dumbledore thinks you're something, or else he wouldn't have let you in here. However, I am not blind. You are about eight years old, Mr. Hitsugaya. Anyone could see that. And that sword you're wearing only adds to that effect since it is taller than you are. I will not have children being subjected to what's in this meeting."

Wow, she managed to bring up my height and age as an insult to my incompetence in one say. It's like one little happy package of all my pet peeves.

It was so tempting to tell her I found my katana's length to be an asset because that way when I decapitated someone I didn't get blood all over me. It was a lie, decapitation was a rather useless method of fighting. Sure, it was a guaranteed kill, but it was a lot harder than it looked. All the bones and muscle in a person's neck got in your way.

"I assure you I am not a child, and the fact that Hyorinmaru is so long is something I find to be an advantage. Trust me when I say I could care less how it makes me look. However, before I tell you more, why don't you tell me what Dumbledore told you about me, and then we can avoid repeating facts."

". . ."

There was a moment of silence where everyone stared at me blankly.

". . . He didn't tell you a single thing, did he?"

Moody shrugged, "Well, he told us the basics."

"Such as?"

"Well, not as much as you told us." Moody said innocently, I rolled my eyes, "But basically he said that you were from Japan, and that you were here to help us fight Voldemort. He also said you looked young, although, none of us expected quite that young."

I gritted my teeth, "Baka." I hissed under my breath.

"You don't seem all that impressed with Dumbledore right now."

"I'm not. I think purposefully keeping secrets from your allies is an idiotic idea." I said with a shrug.

Moody raised his eyebrows questioningly, I raised mine back. He laughed softly, "Anyways, why don't you explain things to them, it'll be easier that way."

"Is anyone else coming?"

"Severus and Minerva are, and Mundungus Fletcher might be." he said.

"So not everyone is here yet?" I said, leaning back in the chair I was sitting in. It was uncomfortable, and more than a little hard. While it was similar to the chair in my office, the chair in my office was ten times more comfortable. Although, whether that was the fault of the chair itself or the environment I was in was unsure.

"Nope, not yet." yawned Moody.

"I'll wait then, there's no point in having to explain things twice to everyone." I said, tracing the swirling pattern in the edge of the table with a finger.

"Assuming we let you stay here." Molly Weasley muttered stubbornly.

I said nothing, if she wanted to push at something that didn't even need to bother pushing back then that was her problem. I could really care less whether she thought I was competent or not, since this woman was very obviously never going to be on the front lines.

Eventually, the room began to steadily fill with people. There was the group that had come to fetch Potter and myself, which included Tonks, Moody, Shacklebolt, Lupin, Emmeline Vance- who was a rather plain woman that I hadn't paid much attention to once she had proved competent, and Elphias Dodge- an older man, but once you've fought alongside Yamamoto, age begins to stop mattering.

Severus Snape turned out to be a rather greasy looking man with shoulder length black hair and a narrowed, sneering look on his face. He reminded me instantly of some horrible cross between Kurotsitch and Kuchiki-Taicho. Ugh.

The man who had rushed out to help Moody deal with the portrait was Sirius Black, apparently the most wanted criminal in all of England. Poor man, I know what it's like to have people you were once friends with trying to kill you. It's harder than it looks, so there's no wonder he's so harried looking.

There was also Mr. Weasley, who- unlike his wife- was willing to trust me. Unfortunately, when Mrs. Weasley shot him a well aimed glare he pretended he didn't with an apologetic look in my direction. I shrugged, I could really care less what he was pretending. His son Bill also came into the room, he had long red hair that was pulled into a ponytail. I wondered just how many Weasleys there were.

Minerva McGonagall was a strict looking woman with her hair pulled back into a bun. She gave everyone a brief nod of her head before sitting down and joining in on the conversation. She had a commanding tone of voice and I was instantly reminded of Nanao. I would bet money that this woman would whack Shunsi in the head with a rolled up magazine with absolutely no reservations.

Mundungus Fletcher was... seedy. There was really no other way to describe the man. He was one of those people who I wouldn't want to let join my squad. I had no idea what Dumbledore was doing by letting a character like him in here. I would bet that he would sell this place out if Voldemort came up with the right price.

Finally- with much surprise- Dumbledore walked into the meeting.

I sighed as several people greeted him with surprise. Honestly, he was their _leader, _shouldn't he be at all the meetings? In the Soul Society the Head Captain was always at Captains meetings, and a seated officer always attended meetings that could affect the squad. The Captains would do it themselves if it weren't for the fact that we all had two-hundred odd men to look after and we were constantly fighting something.

Dumbledore took the seat that had been left vacant at the head of the table and said, "Now, I believe Molly has an issue she wishes to discuss. Go ahead, Molly."

I rolled my eyes; so now I was an _issue _apparently.

Lovely, just lovely.

Mrs. Weasley pointed a finger right at me, "That boy should not be involved in this! This is a war Dumbledore, children shouldn't be involved."

I opened my mouth to reply and Mrs. Weasley quickly said, "And you don't talk yet."

I rolled my eyes and talked anyways, "I assure you Mrs. Weasley, all your fears are unfounded. Not only am I a century older than virtually everyone in this room, but I have also seen more warfare in my life than any of you ever will. Or rather, I have seen more warfare in the time I have _existed _seeing as I am already dead. Therefore, there is nothing for you or me to worry about- if anything you say is actually scarier than everything I have seen, then we are all doomed."

"Dumbledore, you can't seriously be believing this!" Molly snapped.

"Actually, I am seriously believing this." Dumbledore said amusedly, "Now take a few deep breaths while I explain everything to all of you. Here, have some sherbet lemons."

Seriously. We're in a war counsel and this guy is offering sweets. If Yamamoto did that then we'd secretly have Unohana perform a few tests to make sure he was still mentally stable.

"Hitsugaya Toshiro is from a place known as the Soul Society, also known as the land of the dead, Heaven, or any other such variant. It is a military society run by thirteen Captains. He has come here to assist us in our war for two reasons- some of you already know them, but I'll repeat for those who don't- the first and most foremost is that Voldemort is breaking several rules with his rise to power, and he has teamed up with their enemy, Aizen."

I corrected him, "My apologies Dumbledore, but I feel like I must edit that so everyone understands where I am in this. Aizen is our first priority. Compared to him and most people we fight, Voldemort isn't much of a threat. The only reason I am here is to fight Aizen. Aizen has teamed up with Voldemort though, so right now our priorities meet. If I have a choice between killing Aizen and Voldemort, I will without a doubt pick Aizen."

"It doesn't bother you that Voldemort will kill hundreds of innocent wizards?" asked Sirius.

"Aizen is attempting to rise to godhood, believe me when I say that if he is given the chance he will kill _all _wizards." I said smoothly, "Don't mistake it; I will kill Voldemort if I get the chance. It shouldn't take more than a few seconds. You also forget that wizards are not the only race on this planet. Nor do they inhabit every existing dimension that we are trying to protect. We kind of work on a priority list; whoever is going to destroy the most souls gets taken out first."

They all cast me a look and I shrugged, "I have my job, you have yours. Mine is to guarantee the balance of Souls, yours is to kill Voldemort. There is a slight difference between the two."

"Anyways," Dumbledore said cheerfully, "Now that that's out of the way, let's begin with the important stuff. Shacklebolt, what have you managed to get from the Ministry?"

We were suddenly interrupted by a very, very loud yelling noise that sounded suspiciously like Harry Potter, "SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT – WHO SAVED THE PHILOSIPHERS STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS? WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW _HIM _GET BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME! BUT WHY SHOULD I BOTHER TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME ANYTHING? CAN'T HAVE WANTED TO TELL ME THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR- FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, KNICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT'S GOING ON. I SUPPOSE YOU'VE ALL BEEN HAVING A GRAND OLD LAUGH HERE WITHOUT ME-"

I heard someone else say something, almost as loud as Harry, but without the anger driven clearness, "And that, is an excellent example of what happens when you keep things to yourself." I muttered.

Everyone turned to look at me and I said, "What? You honestly didn't see that coming? You all know his personality, you all know how he can't stand to be left in the dark. Harry is the one person who is the most affected by all of this in the entire building. No wonder he's so angry, I'd tell him if I were you."

"Why?" snapped Molly Weasley, I knew she's be the first to complain, "He's just a child. I may not be able to stop you from being involved, but I can certainly stop him from it!"

I sighed, "He's already involved Mrs. Weasley. What if something were to happen to all of us, who would protect him then? Soon Potter will be an adult, and we all know the minute that happens he's going to run off to fight Voldemort."

"Yes, well, I don't plan on telling him anything until he's of age." Molly snapped.

"You're only limiting his ability to defend himself." I explained, "I know it's a slightly pessimistic view, but what if something were to happen to all of us. This is a war and it's very likely that we could all die. We'd most likely regret not telling Potter anything if that were to happen."

"I agree with Hitsugaya on this one," Moody said gruffly, "Potter needs to be prepared."

"As do I," said Sirius firmly, "We all know Harry will figure it out anyways. It's better that he gets the whole truth from us as opposed to a garbled version from other sources."

"Like what?" said Mrs. Weasley, "I destroyed every single listening device Fred and George thought up. There's no way for them to overhear us."

Moody and I shared a knowing look, but neither of us said anything. I didn't because I kind of wanted the underage wizards in the household to know what was going on, and I assumed Moody had his own reasons as well.

"They'll still be able to figure out something, Molly. Your children are far from stupid." Said Sirius.

"Molly, I understand that you are concerned for the welfare of your children," Lupin said softly, "But they're all old enough to know what's going on around them. Shouldn't they deserve the truth?"

Ah, Lupin was more observant than I gave him credit for. He had realised that Mrs. Weasley was doing this to protect her children and that the only way to get her to agree with us was to guilt her into it. Arguing with her would do nothing, since this woman seemed to be more stubborn and unreasonable than anyone that I have ever met.

She sighed and nodded, "Fine. But when I say stop it's time to stop."

Everyone agreed, turning to me I saw hat Mrs. Weasley actually looked kind of awkward. That was… odd. "I'm afraid, Hitsugaya, that I have no idea how _not _to treat you like a child. I know this must seem horrible odd of me where you come from, but unfortunately it's just the way I am."

I shrugged. If she was willing to attempt civility then I would too, "Not at all odd. You're just acting like a mother, and mothers always want to protect children- even if they just look like them."

_**Now there's something I never thought that I would hear you say. **_Chuckled Hyorinmaru, _**You actually admitting to looking like a child. Well, there's a first time for everything, I suppose.**_

_Hush, I'm not done being all warm and fuzzy yet._

Continuing I said, "And in turn I'll say that I'm afraid that my methods are startlingly different than all of yours, so if I say something or do something that surprises you all then you have my apologies."

It wasn't very much, but at least we had developed a truce of sorts.

Dumbledore looked around before making sure we were done, going back to the previous discussion he said, "Alright Kingsley. What's the Ministry been doing for the past few days."

The mentioned party nodded and began speaking in a slow, deep voice, "They're still firmly denying the existence of Lord Voldemort, and as far as I can tell they'll be doing so for as long as they can. The Auror's office is currently looking for the murderers of seven mudblood families. They believe that it is the work of someone attempting to imitate Lord Voldemort. Apart from that though, he hasn't really been doing anything, he's lying low for the time being."

"What were the names of the families?" asked Tonks, "Are any of them related to each other in any way?"

Kingsley shook his head, "No, they all live in different parts of England, and none of them have ever met each other. There are no blood relationships between them."

"What do the families themselves consist of?" I asked softly.

Kingsley turned to me, "Pardon?"

"How many kids do they have, how old are the parents, is there anything that stands out about them appearance wise?" I asked, trying to explain what I meant.

Kingsley shrugged, "Not particularly. They're all young couples with a child, usually about a year old..." he trailed off, "Blimey. I think you have something. Now that you bring it up, they were all fairly skilled mudblood wizards that had gotten married." he frowned, flipping through the files, "Now that you bring it up though, they all had brown hair, and their general appearances were similar. We had never bothered to investigate them together since they didn't really have much in common other than that. Why on earth would Voldemort do something with such a clear signature of being one person; he's trying to lay low, for gods sakes. That much is obvious, or else the wizarding world would be total chaos."

"If I had to guess, I'd say he's trying to leave a message that he knows only you lot will understand. Apart from that though, I don't know what it is. Think back, do these families represent anything that happened in the first war?" Damn, I feel like I'm in the dark here, I just don't know enough. I need to do a lot more studying up on this stuff.

The wizards all shared a look and Sirius put his head in his hands, "James and Lily. James and Lily Potter, it would be exactly the same as their murders except that the child- unlike Harry- is always dead. That's the obvious message, he's saying he's back and that the things that hampered him before don't affect him anymore. It's odd though, Voldemort would usually never be so crafty as to try and send a message like that. He's perfectly capable of it, I wouldn't doubt that, but it's just not his style. Normally he wouldn't kill families like this, he'd just try to kill Harry again."

We're forgetting Voldemort is no longer the only one we need to be careful of." growled Moody gruffly, "We've also got this Aizen fellow to worry about. Does this seem like something he would do, Hitsugaya?"

I nodded, "Oh, most definitely. There's nothing Aizen likes more than sending coded messages just to screw with you. Actually, just to warn you, Aizen loves psychological warfare. If Voldemort has actually teamed up with Aizen then you should expect lots of mind games and tricks."

"Such as?" asked Moody.

I sighed, I _really _didn't want to tell them this, "Basically any trick in the book. I hate to make you worry about this, but, he enjoys turning people against each other. And he's quite good at it." I had originally intended to say 'he likes to use peoples loved ones against them', but I wasn't sure whether or not some people in the room would be able to hear that without freaking out."

"So, basically what you're saying is be careful who you attack."

I nodded, "Basically. Actually, another warning. Aizen's special ability is something called 'complete hypnosis'. He basically gains control over all five of your senses and makes you see and hear whatever he wants you to."

The man with the greasy hair- Snape- said, "I might be able to find a solution for that."

I shook my head, "From what I've seen, large amounts of reiatsu destroy your magic. Aizen has an immense amount of reiatsu, and I don't want to take a risk like that if there's a chance of it backfiring on us."

Dumbledore nodded, once again taking control of the meeting, "I believe some more protections are needed for several locations, including Hogwarts and here." Everyone spent a good twenty minutes discussing elaborate traps. I didn't really participate in the conversation. If life in the Soul Society had taught me anything about traps it was that they didn't work

No matter how many mind bogglingly complex traps you put around some powerful artefact, the sad fact was that there would always be someone who would steal it. If you got lucky, that person was a Captain who needed the artefact to save the world- we broke the rules as often as Ichigo did, we just happened to be a little better at covering it up- if you got unlucky though, that person had a tendency to be psychotic and trying to take over the world.

Next they talked about shifts to protect a prophecy and stop Voldemort from getting to it. Why it mattered I didn't know, since Voldemort was already trying really, _really _hard to kill Potter. I highly doubted that him knowing he had to kill Potter would make any difference in that. I didn't say anything about my opinion though, from the looks of it this group was learning valuable things from the Ministry while they were doing it. They didn't appear to be doing anything else.

That was the end of it, the meeting was finished and we headed out into the entry hall.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: And now we have more fun stuff at the Order. I hope you enjoy! Leave a review if you do (or even if you don't).**

**Chapter Nine – A Difference in Age and Power**

**Hitsugaya POV**

Eventually the meeting let up, and everyone began leaving the room. I saw another one of the Weasley's ears laying on the ground, no doubt trying to pick up leftovers from after the meeting. I raised an eyebrow at the two of them who were peeking over a balcony, but I didn't say anything. Shrugging, I just kept walking.

"Blimey!' I heard one of them whisper, "The little white haired mite saw us but he didn't say anything. What's he playing at?'

The other identical twin- given their explanation at the robe shop I had given up on even attempting to call them by their proper names- turned and said, "Even more, didn't we see him at the robe shop? He might've said something about being a transfer student. I don't really remember. I do remember him taking out Malfoy though, and he didn't tattle on us either. He seems like a good enough bloke."

"Hell, who cares about that? How on earth did he get into the meetings?"

I sighed, walking over to Moody I murmured, "I probably won't be joining you lot for the next meeting. The twins are already suspicious. I'll need to calm them down a bit before I go to another one."

"Ah, the great Captain Hitsugaya is delegating himself to babysitting." Moody chuckled.

I laughed too, "I wondered how long it was going to take you to let me know you knew my rank."

He nodded, "Although I was kind of trying not to believe it. So that ice dragon was actually bankai?'

I chuckled, "Nope. Shikai. My Hyorinmaru is the most powerful ice Zanpakuto in the Soul Society. He can do a lot more than that."

He nodded, "I like you. You're not the least bit afraid of stating your opinion and powers, are you?"

Yes, I was afraid of hurting people around me with my powers. I'm not telling anyone that, though.

"Not in the least. I could also say the same about you though. You made a good impression, I'll give you that."

He nodded, "Just out of curiosity- why are you hiding it?"

"Dumbledore asked me to." I said flatly, "And I'm not actually _trying _to hide it. You would've never guessed if I'd actually been trying." I frowned, "Actually, for anyone else I might be able to say that. For you I'm not so sure. You're sharp. I'll give you that.'

Moody chuckled, "As are you, Mr. Hitsugaya, as are you. Well, I'm taking off now. I definitely don't want to be around for the fireworks that are going to erupt tonight when we try to tell Harry- and by default all the others- what's going on. I wish you luck."

"Thanks- by the way, a quick question. Why is Dumbledore avoiding Potter like the plague? He just crept out that door faster than anyone I have ever seen."

'No idea. I'm sure he has his reasons though." With that Moody left and walked out into the night. There was a loud crack and he vanished from sight. I frowned and wondered how he had vanished for a few seconds before deciding that it really didn't matter and it was probably just some wizarding form of travel.

I followed all those who were staying back into the dining room and watched as Mrs. Weasley went to go grab the kids from upstairs.

The minute she came back into the kitchen things became insanely busy. Large, heavy knives were chopping food of their own accord and throwing it into a pot. My eyes widened slightly when I saw this, the wizards apparently thought nothing of it, but to me sharp objects normally only moved before they came flying at you. I shuddered and walked out through the door and back into the dining room where Ginny Weasley was collecting cutlery from a cabinet.

Walking up behind her I said, "Do you mind if I help you with that?"

She nodded, "No, of course not." She passed me a handful of spoons and forks, "Here, take these. I'll show you where they go." Grabbing a handful of knives she began walking to the table. We began putting the stuff on the table and said, "So, how are you liking England so far?"

_Most of the adult wizards are secret keeping morons, their 'big scary he-who-must-not-be-named' isn't actually all that scary. People here are obnoxious and blind, and I want to go back to the Soul Society to fight Aizen with my friends as opposed to having to deal with him on my own here where I know that I don't stand a bloody chance. And they refuse to rely on the century year old warrior to help them, and yet, they're willing to rely on the Potter boy to kill 'Lord Voldemort'. I mean, can they be any stupider?_

"It's nice." I lied, "Different, but nice."

She nodded, "I imagine it's a bit of a culture shock."

I nodded, "A little, yes."

She cast a furtive look around the room, making sure no adults were around us she asked, "So how did you get into the meetings? We've been trying for ages, and- no offense- you look younger than us."

"None taken." That was a slight lie, "As for answering your question, this is neither the time or the place. If your mother were to find out I was planning to tell all of you she'd throw me out on my ear. That being said, I'll tell everyone after dinner." I murmured, "I believe we were able to get through to her during the meeting, so maybe she'll tell you herself before then."

Ginny gave a very un-ladylike snort, "I doubt that. We've been trying for weeks. Besides; you can't tell us after dinner. She makes us all go to bed and then practically patrols around until we're asleep."

I chuckled, "Have some faith in me. I'll get to all of you, no worries."

She smirked, "I hope so. I've been waiting to actually learn something for ages."

We finished setting the table, and everyone began carrying food out of the kitchen and loading it onto the slightly overloaded table. I was speculating why we would all need this much food when all of a sudden a huge pot full of something nearly rammed me in the back of my head. I launched myself out of the way, rolled a few times and came up standing on the other side of the room.

Potter and Sirius, who had been sitting at the table catching up with each other, both threw themselves onto the floor laughing.

Unfortunately, Mundungus Fletcher was not so lucky. He was still fast asleep- as he had been for virtually the entire meeting- and the pot hit him full on. He went flying off his stool from the force, and the pot came to a sudden stop. What appeared to be pea soup sloshed over the edge and splattered all over him.

_**Serves him right for being an incompetent idiot. **_muttered Hyorinmaru in the back of my head. I nodded in agreement, a smirk on my face. Sirius and Harry began laughing even harder. Ginny and Hermione began giggling uncontrollable. Fred and George- the causes of the problem walked over and hauled Fletcher to his feet.

"Sorry about that, mate-"

"-we lost control for a bit."

"Don't worry though-"

"-we'll get you cleaned up in a jiffy!"

They quickly flicked their wands and everything was cleaned up. After that, though, a very awkward silence descended.

Molly Weasley was- to put into accurate terms- completely and utterly infuriated.

She then launched into a five minute tirade at Fred and George. "FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE! THERE WAS NO NEED - I'VE HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF THIS – JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW, DOESN'T MEAN YOU NEED TO WHIP OUT YOUR WANDS FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!'

I winced. Didn't these people ever learn to speak in a calm and quiet tone of voice? I often found being icily emotionless to be more effective than bellowing my lungs out at someone. Then again, I had the feeling that my icy voice was more effective than Molly Weasley's could ever be. The temperature drops that often accompanied it tended to add an extra effect to it.

"We were just trying to save a bit of time," one of them apologized, "We're really sorry, mum."

She nodded, "See to it that it doesn't happen again, or I'll be grounding you both for a month."

They both nodded seriously and I smirked.

_**Ten bucks says they repeat the incident tomorrow.**_

_I'd up that to twenty if I were you._

"And Hitsugaya, you can stop smirking and go put that sword away." She snapped at me, "I will not have a child carrying around a weapon in this household. If you don't take it off I'll take it off for you!""

_She didn't actually just say that- did she?_

_**She did.**_

I levelled out a glare that would have sent anyone third seat and under running for cover. The room also dropped several degrees in temperature.

"Mrs. Weasley, it is perfectly normal to wear a sword where I come from. I have become quite used to it."

"I guess I'll have to make you then!"

"I wouldn't touch Hyorinmaru if I were you." I murmured, "Even though I would never do such a thing, he has made it quite clear that he has no qualms about freezing your hand solid."

_You don't; do you?_

_**None at all. If she tries to lay a finger on her she'll get some fourth degree frostbite.**_

_Fourth degree?_

_**As in 'there's nothing left'.**_

_. . . that might be a little bit overboard._

Mrs. Weasley obviously didn't hear that, so she knew nothing about the peril her hand was in.

"Now." She snapped, "Absolutely no arguments!" I sighed, letting her lose her hand would definitely ruin any chance of me ever agreeing with her. 

_I probably shouldn't destroy the truce for this, should I?_

_**Probably not, besides, you can make an act of going and putting me in your trunk upstairs. If anything it'll get you away from these people for a few minutes, and you'll just turn me into that ridiculous bracelet. **_

It was the 'It'll let you get away from them' that decided me. I shot one last look at Mrs. Weasley before saying, "I'll be right back."

Hyorinmaru gave a mental shrug. I sighed, went up to some random room on the top floor and gave the command that turned him into a virtually useless bracelet.

_**If you want, we could always do it the **_**other **_**way.**_ Hyorinmaru said slyly.

_I wasn't aware that there was 'another way'._

_**Well, you materialize me like you do when we're training for Bankai, and then I follow you around the house like a Lieutenant. Mrs. Worrywart can't complain about me having a sword, because I'm very obviously not a kid.**_

_You'd give her a heart attack. I don't think you realise just how scary you look, even in human form, which is what I assume you would be in. Honestly, you're at least six feet tall with green hair and dragon feet. You carry a meter long sword on your back and you have a scar that covers most of your face. While I might not find that scary, most normal people run. Screaming._

_**I suppose, I still say we do it in a meeting of the order though. That way I can 'get my opinions out'.**_

_No, what you actually mean is 'so that I can scare them shitless'. Not that I object. For the very last meeting we go to you're going to very intimidating stand behind me._

_**I can't wait.**_

_We're also not going to warn them, and you're going to materialize in the middle of the meeting._

_**Of course.**_

_And… and you're doing this just to make me feel better, aren't you?_

_**Yes, but it's also for me. I'm starting to have a hard time dodging the icicles falling from the ceiling in here, you're so angry. And I really don't like how they're treating us- me included.**_

I nodded, and having properly hidden Hyorinmaru, I walked back downstairs into the kitchen. Everyone was just finishing setting up, and I quickly slid into my seat between Fred and George. Looking at both of them I said, "Why do I feel slightly suspicious about sitting beside both of you?"

"Ah, c'mon mate-"

'We're two completely trustworthy blokes."

"Sure you are." I muttered.

"No! Really!" They both said at exactly the same time, "We don't see how-"

"Alright everyone, dig in!" said Mrs. Weasley cheerfully. All the wizards loaded their plates, but that didn't seem to make very much of a dent in the humongous amount of food in the table. Mrs. Weasley inspected the amount of food on everyone's place before standing up, and shovelling forkfuls of food onto my plate.

Walking away I sent a hopeless look at Fred and George, "I know she doesn't think I'm old enough to travel across the world, and she doesn't think I'm old enough to carry a sword, but surely she thinks I'm old enough to feed myself?"

Fred- or George, seeing as since neither of them had told me their actual names- put his hand on my shoulder and aid, "Tough luck, mate. She sees you as a troubled child, though, and she _loves _troubled children."

"Wonderful." I muttered. Deciding to change the subject I said, "Those ears were really cool-"

I almost bit my tongue when I said the word 'cool'.

"-do you have anything else like them?"

And that launched Fred and George into a long conversation about all the practical jokes they had made and everything that they had gotten themselves into. I actually enjoyed myself for an hour, their stories were entertaining and they rivalled anything Matsumoto had ever done.

I did learn one thing by the end of the conversation though.

In terms of useful allies, I definitely needed to keep these two on my side.

Eventually though, the meal came to a close and it was time for Potter and the others to find out about the Order's activities. Judging from the look on Molly Weasley's face though, she was not going to be backing down easily, and we would be walking on a thin line between having her glare at us, and having her perform some sort of hex so that we couldn't speak for two months.

Not that I would let the hex hit me, but it's the thought that counts.

Sighing I leaned back into the chair, and Molly Weasley began talking, "Well, you lot, I think that it's about time for bed."

Shit, she lied. She is so not going to let this go down easily.

I glanced at the clock, it was about ten o'clock at night. In the Soul Society I would still be wide awake, trying to drag Matsumoto' out of whatever bar she and the other Lieutenants had gotten into. And trust me, it wasn't the easiest thing to do since most of those places had strict age limits. Mrs. Weasley had it all wrong when she worried about battlefield experiences scarring me for life; she should really be worrying about my corrupt Lieutenant and her pension for partying.

Sirius coughed politely, "Sorry, Molly, I hate to interrupt, but I believe we agreed on letting Harry know some of those details from the meeting."

"Harry, yes, and I can't stop Toshiro or Hermione either-"

Oh, so now I was _Toshiro._

Damnit, and she knows I can't object without looking rude.

"-but my children will certainly be staying out of this."

Every single one of the last Weasley kids opened their mouths to argue, I quickly gave a sharp tug on Fred- or George's- pant leg and scrawled a message on my hand in frost.

_Don't argue. You'll get filled in later, if you argue though, then your mother will ensure that nothing like this will ever happen again. I'll tell you everything later._

One of them sent an angry look at Molly, "How come Harry gets to know everything and we don't-"

"BED, NOW!" bellowed the infuriated Mrs. Weasley, "I will not take this from any of you tonight." Her voice became deadly low, and all of the Weasley children flinched. Ginny stood up, as did Fred and George.

"C'mon, Ron." They both grabbed him by the arm and they all made a suitably loud and angry progress to the top of the stairs and into their bedrooms.

Now it was only me, Harry and Hermione left in a room filled with adults. The room felt strangely empty now, and it was definitely not a comfortable feeling.

"So, Harry; what do you want to know?" asked Sirius.

"What's Voldemort been up to?" Harry asked curiously. I began to tune out the conversation since I already knew most of the information. Instead I watched the reactions of everyone at the table. I couldn't help but notice the immense difference in how they all talked about Voldemort. Only Harry, Sirius and Lupin addressed him by his name. Everyone else called him 'You-Know-Who' and 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'.

I rolled my eyes at that, the wizarding has obviously yet to learn that names really don't have all that much power. If they called Voldemort by his name then he would not suddenly fall from the sky and massacre everyone within a ten mile radius. Not to mention how counterproductive and confusing it is, you'll never defeat an opponent if you're so scared you can't even say their name. On the battlefield a little fear is good, it will keep you alive, but vastly overwhelming amounts of fear will just get you killed.

Plus, it's probably making Voldemort feel great about himself. If we called Aizen 'You-Know-Who' we'd probably defeat him just because he couldn't stop laughing long enough to kill us.

And it's damn confusing; I mean, I was lucky enough to learn the real name and all the aliases from Dumbledore. If I hadn't though, then could you _see _that conversation?

God, I could just imagine how bad it would be (flashback)…

_I walked into the Leaky Cauldron, Hagrid close behind me. Someone began harping on Potter again, and he took a step foreword to stop them. Grabbing his arm, just like last time, I said, "Let me. They know you already, and because you're already on Dumbledore's side they'll discount everything you say."_

"_What do you mean? Dumbledore's gone insane…" I trailed off and looked at the toad-woman expectantly._

"_Oh, of course!" she chirped happily, looking like a toad that had had a particularly juicy fly land in her mouth, "He keeps ranting on about how You-Know-Who is back."_

"_Who?"_

"_You know, You-Know-Who."_

"_Umm… I don't know who."_

"_Surely you must have heard of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"_

"_Umm… maybe, but I have no idea who you're talking about."_

"_You honest don't know You-Know-Who?"_

"_God this is confusing." I muttered, rubbing my head, "Can someone just tell me his name! Because I very obviously don't know who he is."_

"_Voldemort." Hagrid supplied helpfully from the back of the room. About half the wizard in the bar shrieked and fell off their stools, glaring at us reproachfully._

"_Oh!" I said, nodding, "I had forgotten about the British Wizards rather childish habit of refusing to say his name. If you honestly think he's dead then why are you so afraid of saying his name?" I shook my head, "Confusing." I muttered as I left with Hagrid in tow._

As I'm sure you can see, it would have gone badly.

The Order finished talking to Potter and Hermione, and I was surprised at how little information the two of them had heard from Sirius and Lupin. They had discussed how Potter had screwed up Voldemort's plans, and how Voldemort was trying to lay low for now so as not to attract Dumbledore's attention. They told him that there had been no funny deaths, which was a blatant lie, however, given the message Voldemort was trying to give with those deaths it was probably better that Harry not know, I agreed with them on that. Harry and Hermione were on the verge of discovering the information about the prophecy when Mrs. Weasley called it quits and sent us all up to bed.

There was some slight argument from Harry and Hermione, but they followed the Weasley's example and left carefully. I went with them and Hermione let out a sigh of relief, "That was nerve racking." She said quietly, "I was afraid Mrs. Weasley was going to blow up at any moment."

"Tell me about it," I agreed, shuddering I said, "She was less than happy in the meeting."

"Really?" said Harry, "I didn't notice anything. Mind you, I was mostly focused on Sirius and Lupin though."

Hermione sighed, "I suppose that's to be expected. But speaking of the meetings, though." She shot me a look.

"Later." I told her softly.

I was begging to feel slightly ill because of the two-flavoured reiatsu coming off of Harry. I hadn't been close enough to study it yet, but right now there was no doubt about it. Harry was a horucrux.

So now came the important question. How do I get the Voldemort bits separated from the Harry bits, if that's even possible.

Maybe if I got a Soul Removal glove from Kisuke. He gave one to Kuchiki Rukia, so if push comes to shove I'll be able to knock Harry's soul and Voldemort's Soul out of Harry's body and purify Voldemort before shoving Harry back inside .

I hope Kisuke responds soon with that Horucrux detector. I really, really need it soon, and if he doesn't get it to me then I'll be forced to ask Kurotsuchi. And Kurotsuchi will no doubt put some kind of stipulation on making it, such as; "Well, Hitsugaya-Taicho, I'd be happy to help you as long as you're willing to bring me a wizard to dissect."

Creepy Bastard.

Hermione nodded at me, and Mrs. Weasley came out of the dining room, "Toshiro, you'll have to sleep in the sitting room upstairs for now. It's a little dusty, but there isn't anything living in there as far as we know, and I can transform the couch into a bed."

"You really don't have to go to all that trouble for me, Mrs. Weasley." Normally I sleep on the roof when I'm on a mission. It was a long standing argument between me and Matsumoto, who thought I was being a spoilsport and ruining her chance for a sleepover party.

Like I care, if she wants to talk that much she's more than perfectly capable of climbing up on the roof as well.

Mrs. Weasley insisted, and after shooing Hermione and Harry down a completely different hallway. I refrained from laughing when I realised she was trying to separate me from the others so I wouldn't tell them anything. Seriously, she actually though putting me in a different part of the house would make me not able to tell her children anything?

Tch, I'm actually a little insulted.

I went into the room she showed me, and watched as she transformed the couch and levitated my trunk into the room. "Now, you have a nice night dear," she said, "And if I were you I'd lock my door. There are all sorts of creepy things in this house and you wouldn't want anything getting into the room. I'll come and wake you up for breakfast. My room is right beside yours if you need anything."

Wow, I believe that entire paragraph was a bunch of thinly veiled threats. Maybe I've misunderstood Mrs. Weasley's practicality.

I nodded, "Thank you very much, Mrs. Weasley. You really didn't have to go through all this trouble for me."

"Oh, not at all dear. Just remember to get a good night's sleep. Growing boys need their energy." She said.

I decided, right in that very moment, that I was going to ignore Mrs. Weasley. I was no longer going to try and prove I was an adult to her, I was just going to ignore her and keep doing my job. She was even more of a lost cause than Hina- Matsumoto was.

I gave a nod at her again and she left the room, closing the door firmly behind her.

I then heard her begin creeping around the house, making sure none of the kids left their rooms. I sighed and rolled my eyes. She must not trust her kids at all with this; there is a certain point where love can go too far. She was smothering them.

All of a sudden there was a loud cracking noise right above me. I yelped and launched myself off of my bed, landing on the floor with a thump. I recognised Fred and George's spiritual pressure immediately.

"What the hell do you to think you're doing?" I hissed at them.

One of them shook their head, "Darn. I though we had him for sure."

"You were … You were _trying _to land on me?" I said incredulously.

"We wanted to see how good your reflexes were, mate. We were wondering whether or not you could help us with some… business deals." said the other one, "From what we just saw, and the way you dodged that cauldron earlier, we've noticed you've got some good reflexes. You've also gotten off on the wrong foot with our mother, so that's like a good omen to us. So, you in?"

"Depends on what it is." I said, leaning back against the wall, "What exactly are you thinking?"

"Well, as I'm sure you've noticed, we have a few inventions we've been testing out."

"The ears." I said flatly.

"Yes, like the ears." One of them said cheerily, "We're planning on opening a joke shop. We've been playing it pretty close to the belt, the others only know because they came into our room when we were testing out some of our nosebleed nuggets."

"Your what?... Actually, never mind, I'll find out later. The more important question is why are you telling me?" I shook my head in confusion.

"You didn't rat us out earlier, and you stood up to Mum, which is something almost no one ever does." Said one of them, the other nodding in agreement, "You also seem to be doing things your own way, which is something we can respect."

I nodded, "Alright. Now what exactly would I have to do?"

They shrugged, "All we've really noticed is that you've got good reflexes, and you have a good set of values. Mostly we'll just be asking your opinion on things; Is this too mean? Is this going to possibly hurt someone? Is this going to be too plain or normal to be funny? Apart from that though, we've heard the Ministry might be planning to mess with Hogwarts through the ole' extendable ears." Said one of them.

The other nodded darkly, "And if that's the case-"

"-Then we want to make sure that were going to make their life at Hogwarts a less than enjoyable stay."

I nodded and grinned for one of the first times since talking to Moody, "In that case, I definitely offer my assistance. I've already met the Ministry member in question, and let me tell you; Dolores Umbridge is a bitch."

They both scowled, "Bloody hell-" one of them muttered.

"We've heard of her."

"And it definitely hasn't been anything good."

I nodded, "She's going to be a problem." I said, running my hand through my hair. I recounted the incident in the Leaky Cauldron to them, finishing I said, "She's going to be on my case all the time."

They both looked at me with in awe in their faces, "Where the hell did Dumbledore find you?"

"A run down magic school in Japan where all they taught were battle strategies and how to lead large groups of people. Useful, I'll admit, when you're fighting a war. However, I kind of want to learn other magic too."

They both nodded, "So that's why you carry around that huge hulk of a sword. Sorry, we might have thought you were a bit of a nut because of that."

I glared at them, "There is nothing wrong with my sword."

They both shrugged, neither saying anything.

Changing the subject I said, "Anyways, is there anything else you want to know?"

They both nodded eagerly, and I spent an hour telling them as much as I could, which was basically the same stuff that Sirius had told Harry and Hermione, except that I gave them a few more details and my answers were clearer and less evasive. They both nodded at me, and I said, "Your mother is making a second round right now, and from the sound of it she's using some sort of spell to open the locks on the doors and peek inside. If you don't want to get caught then I'd get your asses up to bed."

They both nodded, "Who'll tell Ginny and Hermione, and Ron and Harry?"

Looking at the clock on the wall I said, "If we meet in Ginny and Hermione's room in an hour then your mom should be in bed, and I doubt they'll mind being woken up for this."

"How are you going to get there?"

I smirked, "Just open the door when I knock like this." I gave three short, quiet taps on the wall, "I assure you I'll be there."

"This house is pretty creaky, mate. And you have to walk past Mum."

"Trust me." I smirked at them.

"We're not bailing you out if she nabs you." They said warningly.

I nodded, "I wouldn't expect you to. If you tried I'd probably be a little irritated since I can talk my way out of anything."

They both smirked, "Not with her you can't-"

"-Trust us, we've tried everything!"

Then there was a loud cracking noise and the two of them vanished. I heard Mrs. Weasley approaching my room again and purposefully said, "Arise and rule, Hyorinmaru." Before quickly crawling under the covers, laying Hyorinmaru down beside me and pretending to go to sleep.

Mrs. Weasley muttered, "Alohamora!" under her breath and my door swung open with a loud creak.

I sat up as quickly as I could, grabbing Hyorinmaru and saying, "Shit. Mrs. Weasley, I understand how you wish to make sure I am asleep." I hissed, "However, I have led a very paranoid life and I assure you that sneaking up on me when I'm sleeping is a very, very bad idea."

"Language." She corrected, and then she said, "And I doubt it could have been that bad."

"If we're talking friendly attacks, I had a teacher who used to jump through my window and attack me to make sure I never let my guard down. If we're talking unfriendly, then people have tried to kill me in my sleep. Please refrain from sneaking up on me in my sleep, because I'll probably act instinctively."

She sent me a look, looked at my sword and said, "I thought I told you to get rid of that."

"And I thought I told you that this sword held a spirit, a dear friend of mine. I can't just 'get rid of him' because he happens to inhabit my mind. As much as I might wish for him to shut up and leave me alone. It's not happening. Therefore, the sword stays with me. At all times. He is far too dangerous to just leave lying around."

_**What happened to trying to ignore her?**_

_I tried, and I just couldn't manage it. Honestly, do you not remember what happened last time someone tried to forcibly remove you from me- that was Kusaka, and I definitely did not intend to freeze him in a coating of ice, it just happened. And. I. Will. Never. Repeat. That. So Mrs. Weasley can suck it up._

Hyorinmaru knew when to argue playfully, and he knew when to let things slide, so I wasn't really all that surprised when he didn't say anything.

She nodded, and said, "Fine." I had a feeling that, if all the children had not been sleeping, she would have yelled at me.

Honestly, when it came to Hyorinmaru I didn't really care if people yelled at me.

It was a lot better than trying to kill me for him.

"Sleep well, Hitsugaya."

"You too, Mrs. Weasley."

With that she left my room and I sighed, leaning back into the bed. Now I had an hour to myself, I needed to write back to various people in the Soul Society and send Yamamoto his report. I pulled parchment and paper out of my trunk and started writing.

I started the report first, it took a while for me to finish since I had to add a fair amount of new information.

Then I wrote to Kisuke to see the progress on the machine, and to ask him about the glove. I was kind of irritated with Yamamoto with sending me on this mission, so I didn't particularly care how much of a bill I ran up with Urahara. It's not like the Soul Society is short on cash.

Next on the list was Matsumoto, to ask her if she had burned down the division yet, and then a letter to Ukitake to see if her story was true.

Finally, there was a letter to Hinamori filled with pointless fun stuff that would hopefully cheer her up in case she had woken up, and a letter to Unohana to check up on Hinamori's condition.

I grabbed the tube out of my trunk and opened it up, it was filled with- unsurprisingly- a thick wad of papers. I pulled them out, there was one from Unohana saying Hinamori had woken up and that her mental stability was… shaky. There was one from Hinamori telling me not to worry about her.

Too late for that, thanks to Unohana's letter I was worried.

Damn, Aizen. I'm going to slaughter you.

I read Kisuke's letter, which made me grin. He had reported on the update while including several useless comments such as, "As far as I know, this will tell you where the Horucruxes are. It's almost complete now, it just needs some adjusting. I've tested all of Ichigo Kurosaki's family and friends with it, so I can guarantee that it doesn't go off for Quincy, Human-Somethings, Shinigami or Whatever-The-Hell-Kurosaki-Is."

There was something in the last bit of Kisuke's letter that interested me though; it was just a short paragraph at the end.

**Although, Hitsugaya, it would probably be easier for me to study these wizards up close. Yamamoto has told me of some of their technology and it really is quite interesting. I've gotten permission from Yamamoto to tag along on your mission as a kind of 'teaching supervisor'. That of course, is on the condition that you are positive it won't hurt your mission. Given the enemies you're going up against though, it wouldn't hurt to give you some help. I would be teaching Bakudo to the students in Hogwarts, and Dumbledore has agreed that giving them another way to defend themselves is a good idea. We wouldn't teach Hado- it's too destructive, and from what I hear it comes awfully close to their unforgivable curses- and we'd be lying and saying that the spells only go up to number fifty.**

Alright, so it was obviously a well thought out plan. Kisuke would be a good person to have on my side, because despite all his faults, he was a very good fighter, and his intelligence probably surpasses mine.

I added an extra part to my report and Kisuke's letter saying that I was more than willing to have the ex-Captain along.

Actually, the fact that Kisuke was no longer a Captain made a lot of us laugh, especially since he was ten times more competent than Kurotsuchi. One of the only good things that came with Aizen's betrayal was that Soul Reapers had to stop visiting Kisuke in secret. It was getting ridiculous, especially since we all knew that he hadn't actually murdered anyone. Although right now the charges still stood since there was no Central Forty-Six to undo them, we were at least able to openly ask for his help now instead of sneaking around.

Thinking of some of the things that Kisuke has created though, I can't help but think that Fred and George are going to love him.

I read the report on the status of the war, apparently Karakura town had been almost levelled and Aizen had been just barely stopped from creating the key. They had ended up being forced to create a fake earthquake and evacuate the town, scattering its occupants to the four winds. The good news was that it would take the spirit rich area about twenty years to resettle and become usable; the bad news was that Aizen was _really _going to want that stuff from Hogwarts now.

I sighed and leaned back, checking the clock. I had to go visit the children now and give them tidbits of information. I remembered how loudly my door had creaked and decided to use a bit of Kido that weakened the spiritual bonds on myself and allowed me to slide through some solid objects. It took me a few seconds to set up, and then I was through the wall and in the hallway.

I turned off the kido. It was difficult to maintain, and if you did it wrong you could end up stuck in a solid object. That would probably either cause immense pain or kill you.

And being stuck in a wall was definitely not the way I wanted to die.

I used a variation of shunpo to muffle my footsteps so that no one was able to see me going down the hallways. Eventually I managed to get to Ginny and Hermione's room. Knocking three times, Fred and George pulled the door open.

"Blimey, he made it!" one of them hissed, and I went inside.

"I told you I could." I muttered, and then I began explaining things to Ginny and Hermione. Once again, the only things I left out were the prophecy, the horucruxes and the murders. They could know everything else, but I had the feeling that if I told them that other stuff we would all be in a lot of trouble.

We then popped over to Ron and Harry's room to repeat the process, which took a lot longer since the two of them asked a lot of senseless questions, and we had to repeat things several times for them. I also gave everyone the new information about Kisuke coming, but I told them to keep it close to themselves and not tell anyone since it wasn't a sure things yet. My exact words were, "Well, one of my teachers might be coming to teach you some stuff, but who knows. Most of my teachers are a little . . . odd."

Hyorinmaru chuckled, _**Odd is one way to put it. Completely insane is another.**_

_That it is._

And with that we went back to our room, where I picked up a reply from Kisuke saying that Dumbledore would be bringing him here and introducing him to everyone tomorrow. I couldn't help but grin at that; if Mrs. Wealey though I was odd then no doubt she would _love _Kisuke Urahara

God, I couldn't wait. This was going to be hilarious.

**A/N: Just to explain some things in the Chapter;**

** -the Soul Removal glove is the glove with the skull emblem on it that Rukia uses to knock Ichigo out of his body all the time.**

** -the reason Hitsugaya isn't getting supplies from Urahara, not Kurotsuchi is because he doesn't trust Kurotsuchi at all.**

** -I'm not a hundred percent sure about the sliding through walls thing, since there have been hundreds of thousands of buildings knocked down in fight scenes and the characters have- at several times- been trapped and unable to find a door. However, if you remember, Rukia walked through a wall into Ichigo's room in the first episode. I hope the kido bit actually made it believable.**

** -Just in case the cover story for Hitsugaya is starting to confuse any of you, he has told the children that he is an exchange student from a small Japanese magic school that didn't teach very many useful things. He has implied to them, but not told them straight out, that he is here as an ambassador to help the Order get more fighters like himself.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: So, Hyorinmaru will be making an appearance, however it will be next Chapter and it probably won't be in the Order meeting, I apologize but the discussion between Hitsugaya and Hyorinmaru about him materializing was a way to vent nerves. Kind of like how you say 'I'm going to kill someone' if you're really angry at them, but you'd never actually kill them. We're inside his mind, after all, so take everything you hear with a grain of salt.**

**On a lighter not, we will be getting some other people to arrive during this Chapter!**

**Also, thanks to all the people who have reviewed so far- I am amazed (in a really, really good way) I never thought this story would get so much attention. *gives all the reviewers metaphorical cookies***

**And finally, please remember that there is a pole running to see what characters you guys want in the story. All you have to do is go to my profile and click on a few choices, maybe send me a PM- easy, ne?**

**Anyways, enjoy the Chapter!**

**Chapter Ten- Visitors**

**Hitsugaya POV**

I'll admit, I had a hard time getting to sleep once I got back to my room. I had long since entered that stage where you were so tired that you felt energetic and hyper. Only adding to that fact was undeniable fact that Mrs. Weasley was wrong about the room being cleared of creatures, since I felt the reiatsu of several strange creatures under the floorboards.

And that was normally the kind of thing that made one nervous if one tried to close one's eyes.

Eventually I managed to drift off to sleep, but that sleep wasn't without a lot of dreams, dreams of Aizen turning me into a hollow, dreams of Hyorinmaru turning on me, dreams of Hinamori in her current state, dreams of Aizen massacring a school full of children.

The list continued on and on and on. Needless to say, I had a horrible night's sleep, and eventually the nightmares became so bad that the room dropped several degrees in temperature. I walked over to stuff a shirt under the door so that the cold wouldn't leak out from the crack.

I felt Hyorinmaru's presence rise up in my mind, and his voice rang worriedly through my ears, _**Master, are you alright? You should be sleeping right now.**_

_I'm fine. I just haven't gotten enough sleep lately, and it's all catching up with me. Don't worry, I'll be fine._

_**If you're sure. I'm here if you need to talk.**_

_You always are, thanks, Hyorinmaru._

With that I climbed back into bed, not bothering to put the covers on since I preferred the cold. I saw bits of frost making their way across the brass in the headboard, and I gave a sigh of satisfaction as the spiritual pressure of the creatures in the room disappeared as they scuttled away from the cold.

I nodded comfortably, at least now I would be comfortable- even if I couldn't get to sleep. Hyorinmaru chuckled deep in the back of my mind, and suddenly my mind was filled with thoughts of flying, swooping low over frozen glaciers and watching waterfalls of ice water pass through the glittering snow. After that I had no more nightmares, I just dreamed of flying over the heavens with wings of ice.

Of course, I had a waking nightmare when Mrs. Weasley came into the room the next morning and

found it covered in ice.

Oops.

She gave a squeak as soon as she entered, "Wh – Wh - Why is it so c – cold in here? You'll get sick if you keep this up! Honestly, hasn't anyone told you that the Statute of Underage Wizardry prevents magic outside of Hogwarts until you're seventeen years old. You'll be expelled before you even get there."

I sighed and shook my head, and the temperature rose to a what most people would call a normal level. For me it was too warm, but then again, anything short of an Arctic blizzard was too warm for me. "My apologies, Mrs. Weasley. If I had known you were planning on coming in here to wake me up then I would have gotten up sooner and changed the temperature earlier so you weren't cold. As for me getting sick, nothing of the sort will happen from me being in the cold. Hyorinmaru and I are more alike than you could imagine, and-yes, Mrs. Weasley I am aware you don't approve of my Zanpakuto! However, Hyorinmaru has been with me my entire life. I don't intend to let him go now."

I snapped at her, cutting myself off to get rid of her disapproving stare.

She had opened her mouth to tell me my sword needed to be handed over to her and that it was too dangerous for me to have. Her mouth snapped shut.

"If you would have waited then I would have finished and you would know Hyorinmaru is actually in my mind, a mirror image of myself. An ice dragon. I'm sure if you put the pieces together you can understand why I am more comfortable in this setting, and how I didn't use magic to do this. In fact, I use more magic to keep a room at normal temperature than I do to cool it to sub zero."

She glared at me, "Your room will remain at a normal temperature while you're here, Toshiro."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "Actually. It won't. The cooling down is subconscious, I can't control it at all."

_**I can, if you want me to.**_

_That will be unnecessary. Mrs. Weasley will just have to live with it, I am doing nothing wrong and no one else is being affected. I know she thinks I am a... what did that twin say again... oh, yes... a 'troubled child'. Bullshit. I may be troubled, but last time I checked I outgrew being a child nine decades ago when I became a Captain._

_**You'll always be 'ickle Shiro-Chan to her.**_

_Not once Kisuke arrives she won't be, that man has an immense case of blabber mouth when he's not being all secretive and mysterious. Ten bucks says he'll have spilled everything he knows about me by the end of the meeting._

_**How will you know, though? I thought you said you weren't going in.**_

_I might need to, now that Urahara is here. I need to make sure the wizards trust him. Then I can leave the meetings. Besides, the kids trust me more than I thought they would. None of them are the least bit fazed by my appearance, which is a definite plus. As long as I keep supplying them with information they probably won't object to me being in the meetings._

Meanwhile, while Hyorinmaru and I had been discussing strategy, Mrs. Weasley was staring at me open mouthed. Eventually she managed to regain her voice, "What do you mean, you can't control it."

"Only when I'm sleeping." I chuckled, "Relax, consciously I can control it perfectly."

She looked like she was about to say something else, but then I heard someone yell, "Mum?" at the top of their lungs.

She turned to shoot me one last glare, "Breakfast is in five minutes."

I nodded, wincing at the thought of how much food the woman was going to try to feed me. Sure, after a complicated, taxing and most often painful fight I would often eat a lot of food. That was only to be expected, considering the fact that in those fights I would burn off immense amounts of reiatsu and push my soul to the limit. However, when all I had done was kill off a couple dozen Hollows and freeze a room, I hardly needed to stuff my face like some savage.

Oh well, I guess I can always find some way to hide the food to throw it out later, or I can just disintegrate it using highly controlled spiritual pressure.

I got dressed (or rather, I pulled on a new set of clothing since I had never gotten undressed the night before, I had simply fallen straight into bed with my shihakusho still on. I reminded myself that I should probably refrain from wearing my haori.

Then I changed my mind.

They'd already seen it, obviously none of them could read kajin, so the number on the back was pointless to them, as was the meaning of the garment.

That being said though, it would probably be better for me to wear normal clothing today. Especially if Rangikou went to so much trouble gathering it up. I slid into the uncomfortable jeans and teal sweater. I wasn't used to wearing clothing like this and I hoped that I wouldn't have to fight in it. It was constricting, and I would probably end up moving too fast and ripping it or something. I also grabbed that stupid stick that was meant to be a wand, I had learned a couple of charms I thought would be useful last night when I couldn't sleep- things like conjuring water and bandages.

Not that conjuring water was hard for me without the stick.

With a sigh of regret I turned Hyorinmaru into a bracelet and went down the dining room table, which was once again filled with an overabundance of food. Rolling my eyes I sat down beside Fred and George, "Mornin'" one of them mumbled grumpily from between a mouthful of food. I nodded at them and sat down.

"Will you ever tell me which one of you is which?" I asked calmly.

"Well," they both said at the same time to look at each other, "We'll think about it."

I sighed, "Your loss, I suppose."

Mrs. Weasley interrupted our conversation by slamming a plate filled with a huge pile of toast, heaps of eggs and bacon, a mound of cut up fruit and a huge mug of orange juice. Deciding that now was a time better suited to subterfuge than open revolt, I pretended to take bites of the bread while actually evaporating the food with a complex kido spell that was actually made to evaporate hollows.

It was a waste of food, I know, but I was getting desperate. I had a feeling Mrs. Weasley wouldn't let me get up until I was done chewing my way through that mound of food, and I kind of had some things to take care of.

Unfortunately, I couldn't evaporate all the food at once, so it was starting to take a while for me to get through the plate. Only making matters worse was the fact that Mrs. Weasley kept putting food on my plate.

Eventually- everyone else having finished their much smaller heaps of food- I was the only one left in the dining room, "Mrs. Weasley," I said, "I was taught to finish what was on my plate, but if you put more food there I simply will not be able to do so."

"Growing boys need food."

"I'm over a century old. I probably hit full grown about fifty years ago." Alright, so that was a blatant lie, but I doubted Mrs. Weasley would ever be around to see me grow, "Not to mention I'm _dead. _The only reason I need to eat at all is I have spiritual pressure, but even with that I only ever eat abut a bowl of rice a day. This is simply too much." I gestured helplessly at the plate that was once again heaped with food.

"You'll finish that, though?"

"Yes." I said shortly. She nodded and left.

If she kept trying to feed me I was going to stop being subtle about eating and use 'Soten Sokutsui' to get rid of the food as well. That way one beam would hit the stuff on my plate and the other would hit the stuff in the kitchen.

And it would utterly destroy this house, solving all my problems.

The doorbell rang and I took the opportunity to up the kido spell and take out more food while Mrs. Weasley's back was turned. My hands started glowing, but as long as she wasn't looking it didn't really matter. Sure, she would notice that I went through the food quickly, but at least she had promised not to make me eat anymore.

As soon as the door opened and I felt the reiatsu of the _two _people standing outside I figured all my chances of peace and quiet were gone.

When the black cat hopped up onto my table, said, "Mmmm... bacon" and threw herself into the kido spell, making me abruptly shut it down, to grab a few pieces of the mentioned food I _knew _all my chances of peace and quiet were gone.

"Hello, Yoruichi Shihoin." I said, looking at her.

Her lips curved up into a feline smirk and she said, "Hello, Hitsugaya-Taicho."

"I'm going to assume Urahara came with you?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

She looked at me, if she wasn't a cat I had the feeling she would be raising an eyebrow. I shrugged, unabashed, "It seemed like a good conversation starter."

She made a pathetic mewling noise and then said, "That's the Taicho for you- I swear, all of you start you conversations by giving orders. It's beyond obscene."

"And you were any better how?" I murmured.

"I was much different, as was Kisuke. We both encouraged freedom in our divisions, and being comfortable around their Taicho." She said primly, flicking her tail.

"And that obviously worked out well." I said sarcastically.

"And just what are you implying by that?" she asked.

"Well, I'll refrain from even bothering to say anything about Kisuke's division, because Kuotsuchi is a sociopath, and a lot more trouble comes from there than it's worth. I'll also say that he was only a Captain for a very short time before Aizen framed him. Your division is actually going kind of well, except that Soifon is a complete psychopath when you address her the wrong way. And finally, I'll bring up the biggest point; no matter how good a Captain you were, both you and Urahara were exiled for experimenting on human subjects."

Yoruichi smirked, "We were framed; the charges were lifted by Yamamoto a few days ago, apparently they've given up on forming a new Central Forty-Six. And you're really one to talk for terms of severe sentences; weren't you sentenced to execution on sight during the Kusaka incident?"

"Touché." I said, incinerating some more of my eggs.

"That's a waste of food. I'd say a waste of spiritual pressure, but you've obviously proved you have more than enough of that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." She said innocently, "I just overheard something the mother said."

"The room freezing?"

"Yup."

"We should probably go join the conversation." I muttered sourly.

"Aww... but you're not done eating yet."

"Hado four, Byakyurai." I muttered. A tiny bolt of blue lightning shot from my finger and incinerated the rest of the food. It also took the plate with it, but I guess that couldn't be helped. Turning smugly to the annoying cat I said, "Now I'm done."

Quickly and silently putting the cup in the kitchen using shunpo I appeared behind Mrs. Weasley. Kisuke had moved the conversation into the kitchen as soon as he saw I was done disintegrating his food. I got behind them both, and silently closed the door before putting a kido barrier up around the room so no one could hear us.

"And he's always carrying that damned sword around with him!" hissed Mrs. Weasley, refrained from rolling my eyes, "I had to repeatedly to tell him to take it off!"

Kisuke raised an eyebrow, "You told him to get rid of his Zanpakuto and you're still alive. Either you're insanely powerful, or he never actually took it off."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked suspiciously.

"To claim a Shinigami is too young to wield their Zanpakuto..." he trailed off, clicking his tongue in a disapproving way, "That's an immense insult where we come from. To claim one is not powerful enough to wield a piece of their own soul... I'm sure you can see why that is insulting to a high level fighter. Hitsugaya-Taicho especially would have never let you take his Zanpakuto. If you had tried to force him to take it off he probably would have flat out refused, and you might. Therefore the only solution is he's hidden it somewhere."

"Kisuke, I swear, you have one of the worst cases of running mouth I've ever seen. I hid the Zanpakuto for a reason, or has Yoruichi still not managed to grill the purpose of stealth into your mind." Mrs. Weasley jumped a foot in the air, probably because I was less than an inch behind her.

"I'm curious, where are you hiding it?" he asked, completly ignoring my comment.

"Arise and rule, Hyorinmaru." I said, and he appeared in my hand.

Mrs. Weasley jumped again. "Don't swing it around like that!" she hissed, "It's not safe."

I'll admit, it was childish of me, but Hyorinmaru made a very satisfying swishing noise when I swung him around a few times.

Looking at Mrs. Weasley I made a decision, "My sword has a gender by the way. _His _name is Hyorinmaru, he's the most powerful ice Zanpakuto in the Soul Society, and he does not like being called an it. He also doesn't like being constantly insulted."

_**Thank you for finally telling her that. I was getting sick of it.**_

_No problem, after all, by default every time she calls you an it she's calling me an it too. Not that I have anything wrong with those of both genders._

_**Poor Kisuke, imagine what the fact that his Zanpakuto is a girl says about him.**_

"What do you mean 'insulted'." She snapped at me angrily.

"Every time you say I'm too young to say anything you're implying that I am not strong enough to wield my Zanpakuto. That is a direct insult to Hyorinmaru, because you're saying to him that a mere child mastered him. That's unacceptable for a dragon."

"What do you mean, 'Mastered him?'."

"Long, long story. Let's just say that your Zanpakuto won't allow you to achieve a certain level of power without you proving that you really are strong enough to wield it, and leave it at that."

She cast me a look, "You fought your own mind?"

"Yes, and I won too." I said dryly, "Shihoin and Urahara both did it too, it's really not all that rare." All this blatant lying about my power level was going to come back and bite me; I think we all know achieving Bankai is a far from normal achievement. "However, that being said, Hyorinmaru's personality is a bit different than that of a normal Zanpakuto. Now that you know my reasoning I will wear him all times, I didn't want to usurp your authority without warning in front of your children. However, now that you have been warned, and you know I am not a child, I would please ask that you stop treating me as such. From now on I will put up a great deal of argument." I trailed off ominously and she nodded.

Urahara started chuckling, "What?" she snapped at him.

"Nothing, you'll know in the meeting- all I'll say now is that he is completely serious about that. Speaking of the meeting, isn't it supposed to be starting soon?" said Urahara calmly.

Right on cue the doorbell rang, and the door was opened to reveal a group of wizards. The picture started screeching again and I winced when the words 'exiled traitors, shape shifters and evil creators and abominations' were added to her degrading list of terms for the people in the house. Hopefully none of the kids noticed; Sirius and Mrs. Weasley did get it closed quickly.

Urahara grinned at Sirius, "Do you want me to try to get rid of her some time?" he asked, lifting his fan in front of his face again.

Sirius frowned, "How would you do that?"

He smirked, "I have my ways. Even if I don't manage, though, we can have Hitsugaya-Taicho freeze her solid. I doubt he'd mind doing it if she was always that annoying."

"What was that you just suggested, Kisuke?" I said darkly, the temperature dropping rapidly.

He smiled and put the stupid fan in front of his face, "My apologies, Hitsugaya-Taicho."

I snorted, "Sure."

We all sat down in the dining room again. Keeping her promise, Mrs. Weasley didn't say anything. Dumbledore began speaking, "So, to those of you who are new here I say welcome. Those of you who don't recognize the new faces, these lovely people are Hitsugaya Toshiro and Urahara Kisuke and the cat goes by the name of Yoruichi Shihoin."

"I actually am a person." She chuckled, "I just don't have any clothes on me, and some people respond poorly to public nudity. I don't know why, clothing is such a bother; wouldn't you all agree?"

There was a moment of silence and she- although I doubt the wizards had noticed she was female, given how masculine her voice sounded- heaved a great sigh, "Or not..."

I snickered, and Urahara smirked, and one of the new wizards said, "Dumbledore- where did you find them?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, and thankfully Dumbledore just said, "The same place I found Hitsugaya. Ask the people who were here yesterday and I'm sure they would be happy to explain it to you. Now, more important matters. Urahara- can we expect any help from your people?"

Shit. Dumbledore just had to pose the question like that- didn't he? This left things wide open for Kisuke's 'I'm just a little old shopkeeper act'. Which we all know is complete and total bullshit.

Urahara got that 'I know something you don't know because I'm more awesome than you' smirk on his face, and he pulled the fan out again, "Well, technically they're not _my _people. I was exiled because of something Aizen framed me for a long time ago." He sighed dramatically, "Right now I'm just a little old shopkeeper deemed to a fate of poverty and poorness."

I snorted, "Because you've never _actually _committed the crime you were accused of." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that, Hitsugaya-Taicho?" he said innocently.

"We all know how Kurosaki got his Shinigami powers, if that wasn't human experimentation I don't know what is."

He chuckled, "True. Although I like to think of Kurosaki as a success, plus he asked me to do it. Came so far as to break into my shop and threaten me. And since I'm just a little old shop keeper... what was I to do?"

I didn't deem that comment worthy of an answer. If the wizards couldn't tell that was a blatant lie then they were doomed, and there wasn't anything that I would be able to do about it.

He sighed, "Anyways, I doubt any of the Taicho would lend me their people. Plus you've already got Hitsugaya-Taicho here. Use his people. If he'll let you..."

I _almost_ burst out laughing- I guess Dumbledore forgot to tell them my rank was supposed to be a secret. Oh well, I can't exactly say that I'm particularly disappointed.

Tonks sat bolt upright, she was the first wizard in the room to make the connection, "Taicho- Captain. They're the same, aren't they?"

I nodded and smirked at her, "Yes, that would be correct."

All the other wizards got what she was getting at- well, all the ones I had met so far- and froze. Molly Weasley looked at me, "Seriously?"

I nodded, "Yes."

"But- why- you said..."

I shrugged, "Dumbledore asked me to, I wasn't that thrilled with it, but his reasoning was sound so I agreed to at least put some effort into it. I'll admit I didn't exactly try very hard- so you have my apologies on that, Dumbledore."

His blue eyes twinkled slightly, "But not your apologies on the way things turned out."

It was a statement, not a question.

"No, not on the way things turned out. I didn't quite agree with that reasoning, and it was starting to interfere with my credibility for being able to get into the room. It was hindering my progress." I said firmly.

He nodded, "Understandable. So can we expect help?"

"From my division, yes. However, you would only see them if a battle were to erupt and I needed their help with something. That is highly unlikely though, and as for the other divisions, that is up to their Taicho."

One woman, a new one whose name I didn't know, shuddered, "No offense, but for some reason I find that highly disturbing."

"Find what disturbing?" I said icily, and the room dropped several degrees. People's breath came out in fog.

"That a child has absolute control over a group of soldiers and warriors with little supervision."

I gritted my teeth and levelled out a glare at her, "I assure you that my control over my division is none of your concern. It has been that way for centuries, and although I was once the youngest Captain ever, I am now over a century old and hardly a child. My men have never doubted my orders, and in return I have never led them wrong. I could care less whether anyone in this room cares whether or not I am an adult; now that the great secret of my rank is out I am more than happy to tell you that I could care less whether or not any of you think I'm old enough. I'm not going anywhere and any further attempts to undermine my authority because of my age will simply be ignored."

With that I leaned back in the chair, and the meeting continued on, there were still some accidental jabs at my age, but just like promised I ignored them- although the room did suddenly drop in temperature every once and a while- and the meeting continued on without a blip. Today's topic appeared to getting magical creatures to aid their side in the war.

Just listening to it I was able to tell that it was a lost cause, from the sound of it their Ministry had treated the magical creatures as badly as Central Forty-Six had treated the super humans like the Bount and Quincy.

And we all know how well the Bount and Quincy reacted to mass genocide. It was complete warfare for a total century. I had hopes that things weren't gone so far here, but I doubted the wizards would ever get them on their side if they were working with the Ministry.

Eventually the meeting ended, it was still fairly early in the morning so I went to go help the younger members- and they were members, no matter what their parents thought, because as long as they were fighting Voldemort they qualified as such to me- clean out the drawing room. I walked into a scene of complete chaos, it looked less like cleaning and more like they were fighting a war with flying little blue fairy things.

They all had squirt bottles in their hands, and they all covered their faces with an old cloth. A fairy would fly at them and they would squirt it before throwing it in a sack. I noticed that Fred and George were pocketing the dead creatures. Probably for one of their joke shop pranks, although I have to admit to being stumped at what the creatures would be used for.

Mrs. Weasley was still down in the kitchen talking to our two favourite ex-Captains. I had decided my time was better spent upstairs and left them to their adult reminiscing.

Old people, always arguing and talking about nothing.

_**I find that offensive, **_chuckled Hyorinmaru.

_You were born in my mind, by default you shouldn't be any older than me. So relax, you're not old... yet._

_**Why do I sense that 'yet' was meant to be- uh oh, Potter just got bit by one of them.**_

"Shit!" I hissed when Potter started turning a peculiar shade of blue before fainting, "Do any of you have an antidote?" I asked walking into the room.

"What- why... Harry!" yelped Ron. Apparently he hadn't noticed Harry pass out . . .

"The antidote, Ronald." I said pointedly. Ginny was already handing it to me, it was a small brown bottle labelled, 'Malvon Migley's Magic Cure-All', the instructions were simple, 'For relief from Doxy, Spider, Snake and Billywig bites and sting simply apply to bite/sting after washing hand, apply clean bandage after application. If bite doesn't lesson up then seek medical attention'.

Easy, except that Potter was unconscious and normally that meant 'seek medical attention immediately'. I sighed and unscrewed the bottle and picked up Harry. "Anyone know whether or not anything is in this armchair?" I asked.

"It's clean." Ron awnsered helpfully.

"Good." I unceremoniously dumped Harry in the chair.

I unscrewed the bottle and pulled out my wand, happy that I had learned some of those charms last night when I couldn't sleep. "_Aguimente." _I muttered, and a jet of water shot out of my wand and onto Potters hand. I also soaked a good portion of the chair in the process, but I wasn't all that bothered by it right now.

Now that the bite wasn't covered in grime and I could actually see it I had to admit to being surprised at how small it was. Seriously- not that I was complaining- fainting from this seemed a little bit... wimpy. I hardly doubted bandages would be necessary. I applied the cream that was in the bottle onto Potters hand.

Potter's revival was almost instantaneous, he sat up quickly and I pushed him back into the chair, "Relax for a bit, Potter. You just passed out."

"I'm fine, whatever that stuff was it worked great."

"I'm sure it did, you still look a bit pale though, so relax while the high that medicine gave you wears off. I would hate for you to try to fly or something." I told him.

"Make me." Harry said, standing up.

I smirked, "Do you really want me to?" Potter didn't sit down again and I sighed, "Fine. _Sai_."

Potter collapsed back into the chair with his arms trapped behind him.

"What was that?" Hermione asked. Her face was alight at the thought of learning something new.

"Eastern magic. You'll learn more about it this year at school. That's a level one binding spell that will make sure Harry _stays in his chair_." The last bit was directed at Harry, who was trying to get up. Harry stopped struggling, but he had a childish frown on his face.

"The chair is wet."

"_Scourgify. _Now it's not." I said, "And look, in the five minutes we've spent arguing about whether or not you can actually get up all your colour has come back and you look just like you did before. Now you can get up." I took of the Bakuda and chuckled when Harry jumped to his feet.

Casting a look around the room he said, "I won't tell Mrs. Weasley about the spell if you don't tell her about the hand."

I smirked, "Deal."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Alright, so everyone is getting this Chapter a little bit early since I'm going away on a geography trip to study mountains and such in Costa Rica, it's gonna be fun! I'll be back next Sunday, so you'll get your next update somewhere around then. I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter Eleven- The Horucrux**

**Hitsugaya POV**

Mrs. Weasley eventually brought up a plate of sandwiches for us to eat, and just as promised there was no mention of the fact that Harry had been attacked by a doxy and I had used wandless magic to force him to stay sitting down while the antidote took effect. She then left again, my guess was so that she could go have lunch with the Order members while they ate her food.

I didn't join her, from the stories the kids had told me they were actually more effective against the great evil wizard (note the sarcasm) than the adults were.

I also figured that if I stayed up here then I wouldn't actually have to eat anything, if I went downstairs then the mother hen would try to feed me and I was already full from breakfast. Fred and George both wandered over to me while we all sat in front of the grimy window, "So, we've decided to tell you our names."

Their faces were cheerful, and given their natures I automatically expected a prank, "I'm Fred."

_Fred _pointed to himself.

"And I'm George."

_George _pointed to himself.

I nodded and they both grinned at me, "Don't tell Mum, though, we think she might have gotten us mixed up when we were babies."

I chuckled, "Somehow I doubt that. Though your mother might have a few faults, it can never be said that she doesn't take care of you."

They both nodded and simultaneously took a bite out of their corned beef sandwiches, "True enough, mate, but I think you've been on the receiving end of enough of that tender loving care to know how _fun _it can be."

"Tch. Unlike me however, she has a responsibility to look after you lot. I'm just the lost puppy she picked up in the street, and I challenge her so much I think she might just want to stick me back on the street where I came from." I said, "You'll notice I got my sword back and she won't be making me take it off again. She is not happy about that."

_**Taking **_**it **_**off? I think these people are contagious.**_

_My apologies, slip of the tongue._

There were a comfortable few minutes of silence- well silent for the humans, Hyorinmaru spent the entire time teasing me about that tiny slip of the tongue, stupid dragon wouldn't shut up. I noticed a strange, strong reiatsu coming from a desk in the corner of the room. It rattled every once and a while and I felt odd when I tried to concentrate on it. It reminded me of the dementors, and yet it was obviously a different creature. With a shudder I turned away to concentrate on the cabinet beside it.

I almost stopped dead.

I could feel a horucrux in that cabinet, pinpointing it made me believe it was the silver locket that sat in a corner. I gritted my teeth, Voldemort was obviously more intelligent than I thought- to hide the locket among a bunch of other dark objects in his death eater's house. No one would ever look sideways at it.

Oh well, I have it now. I'll sneak down later tonight and grab it before taking it away to destroy it.

_**This is far too easy, shouldn't there be some defences on it at least?**_

_There should be, perhaps Voldemort never intended for it to be here, maybe another wizard found it and the Blacks bought it from him. Maybe there are traps and we just can't sense them._

_**Maybe, but something still seems wrong about this. Surely there must be some curses or spells on the object itself to hide it.**_

_There is no need for spells that would hide the locket, such spells would only make it more suspicious than before. Normal wizards would just see it as a regular old dark locket, and there's no way you would be able to hide the aura of death and darkness emanating from that thing. It's revolting._

_**True. Be on your toes when you destroy it though. It won't go without a fight.**_

_Hai._

We spent an hour after lunch finishing up the de-doxying of the curtains. It probably would have taken longer, but eventually I just got bored and froze everything in the curtains that had a slight bit of spiritual pressure solid. Ignoring the protests of the Weasley- I doubted the doxy venom would hurt me even if it did bite me- I shook the curtain and all the dead creatures fell the floor.

We collected them up, threw them in the buckets and finished our job just in time for the show. The doorbell rang and Mrs. Black started screeching up the usual storm. I rolled my eyes when I looked out the window and saw Mundungus Fletcher. I smirked a little, that man was going to get it.

He had a pile of cauldrons- most likely stolen ones- with him and he was trying to persuade Mrs. Weasley to leave it in the mansion, which then caused her to burst into a fit of screaming rage. Again. Both Fred and George got dreamy looks on their faces, when I shot them a funny look they both sighed and said, "It's so nice when it isn't us." I rolled my eyes.

Mrs. Wesley looked up and everyone ducked down, well, everyone except me. She glared at me and I waved lazily, "She's already seen you all." I informed the group of children laying around my feet.

"Damn." Ron hissed. Hermione shot him a disapproving look and he corrected himself, "Err... darn?"

I just barely managed to keep myself from snorting. I had heard much worse words than that, and quite a few of them have been directed at me personally.

Soon enough Mrs. Weasley came into the room, she eyed the bottle of cure suspiciously. I frowned; did she notice it was a little emptier than before? I had put it back exactly the way it was before, "Why is there less cure in the bottle?"

I was surprised when it was Hermione who covered for us, "We bumped into the table and knocked it off, sorry. Hitsugaya fixed the bottle for us and salvaged what he could, but he said he didn't want to risk putting some of it in the bottle if it was contaminated, so there's less than before. We're sorry."

Alright, so that was actually a pretty good cover story.

Mrs. Weasley nodded, "It's okay, dear." Turning to me she said, "And your Professor Urahara told me to tell you 'it's done'. Whatever it is."

I shrugged, "No idea. I'm sure he'll tell me later though. I'm sure you noticed how mysterious he likes to be." I had filled the children in on the fact that Urahara would be teaching this year. They had been thrilled that they would be learning some defensive magic this year.

I had no intention of telling Mrs. Weasley about the horucrux finder, nor about the fact that there was piece of Voldemort's soul right behind her. It would just freak her out, and then I'd have to explain about the horucruxes to her kids too.

And no doubt they'd run off to try and find them. Immediately with absolutely no planning. Tch. Thoughtless baka. Or rather, thoughtless wizards. The two words were starting to become synonymous for me, and I was almost a hundred percent certain that feeling that way about you allies is a really, really bad idea.

Then again, in terms of idiocy I doubt that the Seiritei is actually any better than the wizards, so there really isn't any room for me to talk.

Tch, and death is supposed to be peaceful.

Obviously whatever human thought that one up has never been in the Soul Society before. That whole 'it's a peaceful, nice place' speech we give to newly departed souls before performing conso is bullshit.

Mrs. Weasley got the cupboard open for us, and ordered us to clear it out for her. She then proceeded to warn us that almost all of the objects in there were dark, so it was probably best to be careful. She promised to come help us later, but she had to go start cooking dinner. I could still sense the reiatsu of the wizards in the kitchen, they must still be talking.

Honestly, I am not setting foot in another order meeting again. Kisuke and his pet cat can summarize for me, and the children are better company than the adults. As soon as the doors were open a couple of the objects flew at us. For me it was a tiny spindly silver thing that had some kind of strange green stuff on the tips of its 'legs'.

The legs were sharp, and the green stuff looked poisonous.

Naturally, my reaction was instinctive, "_Hado one, Sho!"_

The thing was slammed backwards into a wall where it shattered. Ginny had crushed the glass butterfly thing attacking her with the shoe. Fred and George had their wands out, and they were busy incinerating the little blue flies that swarmed them. Ron and Harry were dealing with a book that looked suspiciously like the monster book of monsters. Hermione was stomping on a metal spoon that had tried to gouge out her eye.

Maybe the horucrux wasn't as undefended as I originally thought.

Mrs. Weasley conjured up some large garbage bags for us, and we began throwing junk in them. "I'll be in the kitchen if you lot need me," she said, "Sirius should be in here soon to help out, he's just feeding Buckbeak right now."

"Who?"

"A hippogriff." Hermione explained, "It's a creature half horse, half eagle. Sirius escaped from the Ministry on Buckbeak's back." She then proceeded to tell me the story of the groups fourth year and I was no longer surprised by the fact that Dumbledore wanted guards on Harry at all times, sure the boy had _tried _to keep his nose clean, but trying doesn't really cut it when you end up alone with a supposed serial killer whose next target happens to be you.

I managed to get my hand on the locket by pure luck, grabbing it and pretending to drop it in the bucket when in reality I slid it into my sleeve. As soon as I felt the horucrux touch my skin I felt a sense of wrongness, of anger and repulsion. Suddenly it was as if I wanted to kill someone, as if I now had an outlet for all my anger. I wanted to kill the wizards, to kill Aizen, to kill Yamamoto.

_**Master...**_

It was their fault, really, for sending me on this stupid, idiotic mission in the first place just because I looked like a child. I was going to kill them for insulting me. Kusaka had it right, we needed to create a new world, create a new place. This old one was rotting.

_**Master...**_

And when I did that the no one, not one single person, would ever doubt my skills. No one would ever laugh and call me a child again. No one would ever insult me and sneer in my face. No one-

_**MASTER! **_

A mental hand hit me hard, I can't really say how exactly, but it was the equivalent of getting slapped in the face by Hyorinmaru had he been in his physical form. Hyorinmaru then reacted by doing something he hadn't done in a long, long time, jumping in and taking control of my body while I was still reeling. It took him only a few seconds, but then the amulet was in my pocket and no longer in contact with my skin. And then my body was mine again and Hyorinmaru was sitting in the back of my mind as if nothing had happened.

_. . . Thanks._

_**Think nothing of it. That thing was encroaching on my territory. I'm the only one that gets to influence your decisions and make you do corrupt things.**_

_Still, that was fast thinking. I wonder what did that. That amulet was . . . different. There's no other way to describe it. I wanted to kill someone._

_**Who knows, who cares. We're aware of it now, and I can keep it from effecting you.**_

_Thanks again._

And then I went back to helping the wizards clean. They hadn't noticed anything at all, which really said something about their observation skills. Then again, not very much would have appeared to happen apart from me spacing out for a little bit and then reeling slightly before spacing out again.

Eventually it was time for dinner, and they all headed downstairs. It was the same as it had been last time, except that now Kisuke and Yoruichi were there. The twins were practically worshipping Kisuke, and the girls thought Yoruichi was amazing.

The two of them 'left' after dinner, and I had to role my eyes a where they 'left' to. Apparently I'm not the only person who enjoys sleeping on rooftops. You know what, I think I'll knock them off at breakfast time so that they fall right past the small window in the dining room. The look on Mrs. Weasley's face would be priceless.

We went up to bed again and I skipped right to freezing the room solid and trying to sleep.

It wasn't my fault when Fred and George apperated into my room and slid across the floor before crashing into my bed. I picked them both up by the back of their pyjamas and threw them onto the bed, which was the only part of the room not covered in a sheet of ice. Glaring at them I said, "Was there anything in particular you wanted, or are you just enjoying ruining my sleep?"

"B-b-blimey, Mate! It's freezing in here!" one of them chattered out.

"I'm aware. I prefer the cold. Suck it up or get lost." I snapped at them, laying Hyorinmaru down across my legs in a meditative position. I had planned on chatting with my Zanpakuto tonight.

Actually, allow me to rephrase; I planned on discussing various ways to destroy the horucrux to stay awake, and then when the rest of the house was asleep I planned on sneaking out and beating the shit out of it until there was nothing recognizable left of it.

I paused and thought about that plan.

_Are you sure there's no lasting effects from that amulet._

_**Yes. You just need to get rid of some... angry emotions. Besides, that thing messed with your head. Your right to try and destroy it.**_

Fred and George seemed to debate whether or not they should leave. Eventually Fred looked around the room.

Unfortunately for me, his eyes fell on the small, insultingly cute stuffed dragon Rangikou had forced on me, slipping over to the suitcase I had stuffed it in and pulling it out he said, "Aww... Ickle 'Shiro has a baby dwagon."

Shooting Fred a look of pure loathing I said, "You know how your mother sometimes gives you things you don't want?"

They both nodded smirking at me, "That dragon is kind of like that for me. Matsumoto stuffed it into my suitcase before I left. I don't want it, but if I were to destroy it like I wanted to, then she would have given me something even more disgusting to cover it up."

"Prove it." George taunted.

"_Bakudo Four, Hainawa." _The rope shot out and tied Fred and George together. Walking over and pulling the dragon out of their grasp I said, "I don't have to prove anything to you. Get lost."

There was a moment and they said, "We can't. Your spell is getting in the way."

I took off the spell.

" 'Night, Hitsugaya." Said Fred, and the two of them vanished.

I looked at the dragon in my hand and said, "You're more trouble than you're worth," before carefully putting him back in the suitcase where no one could see him, but so that he wouldn't be squished either.

Damn, the thing was growing on me.

I settled down and meditated for a while, breathing calmly and just chatting with Hyorinmaru as we examined the reiatsu building up around the amulet.

Eventually we felt the reiatsu of everyone else in the house dim down to a level where you knew they were sleeping. I debated whether or not to open the window, but then decided it would be a safer bet to just go through the wall. Warming the room up to a point where Mrs. Weasley wouldn't think I had frozen myself solid I left, leaving a very convincing ice clone in my place.

We found a forested area with no one around and I sat down, dumping the amulet on the ground and erecting a kido barrier around the area so no one would be able to see or sense me.

_**So, are we going to go all out on the amulet first, or work our way up.**_

_Work our way up._

_**Hai. This'll be fun.**_

I spent a few seconds pondering the amulet, eventually I stepped back, held out my hand and said, "_Hado Four, Byakyuri!" _This time I put all my power into it and the blue lightning bolt was huge, it would have had the power to go straight through several regular level hollows in one shot.

The amulet didn't have a scratch.

_**It's a good thing we found a place with no humans around for miles, this will get ugly.**_

I moved up to another level spell, deciding that since I had the time I might as well start using the chants. _"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado Thirty-One, Shakkaho!"_

The amulet didn't have a scratch.

"What on earth is this thing made of?"

I paused to think things through and took down the kido barrier around me, if I were to try any higher level spell inside of it then it would probably incinerate us all. I then took a few steps back, and decided to skip a few more levels of kido and go straight on to the highest level one I could use right now without attracting too much attention, anything over level fifty-five was just plain too powerful. If I needed to resort to that then I would go out into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where there was absolutely no one around, "_Hado Fifty-Four, Haien!"_

That spell was made to incinerate something so completely that nothing was ever left.

The amulet looked a little singed, but it was still completely intact.

Obviously, Kido was not a sound tactic on this amulet. I unsheathed Hyorinmaru and held him over my head, bringing him down on the small helpless amulet.

The amulet sunk about a foot into ground. I swore loudly and spent a few minutes digging it out. This time I cast Danku horizontal to the ground and put the amulet on it. Standing on top of the kido barrier I tried again.

Hyorinmaru slammed into the amulet, and the explosion of reiatsu that resulted was enough to make me shunpo thirty feet backwards to avoid it. I was face with a dense, dark cloud of pure reiatsu. I looked deeply into it, trying to see the amulet.

I really wished I hadn't.

Thoughts and images of my worst nightmares filled my head, Hinamori and Aizen were looking out at me from that cloud, and Rangikou and Gin stood there as well. "_This is your fault, Shiro-Chan." _Her voice was accusing, innocent and I realized that it was because she had been stabbed by Aizen. Again.

Now, looking back on that moment in hindsight I realized what the spell in the amulet was doing, it was attempting to scare me away from it so I wouldn't destroy it by showing me my worst memory.

However, I don't think that the amulet realized just how much I hated Aizen.

I put Hyorinmaru into a battle stance and yelled the very first thing that came into my mind, "Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyorinmaru!" And then I lunged, charging at Aizen- which also happened to be the amulet- at full force.

"Ryusenka!" I yelled as Hyorinmaru hit the center of the amulet, which happened to be right behind the imaginary Aizen so I got the added pleasure of pretending to stab him.

The amulet didn't stand a chance. I shattered the ice and all that was left of the horucrux was one tiny piece of crush, misshapen metal. We headed back to the Headquarters and slid into bed after melting the ice clone and freezing the entire bed solid.

_**It's done.**_

_That it is, let's go take it and show Dumbledore next time we see him. Honestly, I cannot believe he missed a horucrux that was inside his own headquarters._

_**I agree, some people seem blind sometimes.**_

_You know, I actually feel pretty good right now._

_**Lack of sleep is fogging your mind- literally. I doubt you're in any state to tell whether or not you're fine.**_

_I never said I was fine physically, I just figure that that thing's aura has been affecting me all day. Now that I've gotten rid of it I feel like I'm on a high._

_**Go to sleep.**_

_Spoilsport._

_**I'm going to sleep. You don't have to. Just don't bug me.**_

I decided that I might as well, so I curled up on the frozen bed and shut my eyes. To most people sleeping on a frozen hunk of ice might seem uncomfortable, but to me it was comfortable. Familiar. Ice wasn't a hard substance to me unless I wanted it to be, it did whatever I wanted it to, so sleeping on the bed felt just like sleeping on the bed.

Except it was gloriously cold.

I would have never thought I would have been able to get away with doing this in the world of the living. In the Soul Society I have a house to myself, so I get away with doing whatever the hell I want there. Not to mention having absolute control over my division means that I can keep my office at whatever temperature I like (although I refrain from freezing Squad Ten too often, it's not the squad members fault I can't stand the heat and it would be cruel of me to freeze them all constantly).

Speaking of which, I wonder how they're all doing.

Images of Rangikou throwing sake parties filled my mind and I decided that I just didn't want to know. If my division was in shambles when I got back, and the less experienced recruits were hanging out the windows wearing only their loincloths then it would take only two minutes of a small blizzard before everyone was doing what they were supposed to again.

. . . although those unlucky few wearing only loincloths might be making a quick trip to the fourth to get rid of some bad frostbite. It's their own fault for drinking with Matsumoto.

I wasn't sure where the images of my division morphed into dreams, but somewhere along the lines I fell into the first deep sleep I had had this entire mission. Maybe the horucrux's aura had been interfering with me from this far away, I don't know. All I know is that once it was gone, all the nightmares that had haunted my previous night's sleep had vanished.

The next morning I woke to an owl sitting on my head. "What the hell?" I mumbled sleepily as the bird hopped around my room, its feathers all fluffed up for warmth, "Am I hallucinating, or is there an honest-to-god-bird in my room? I hate wizards."

I tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but the damn thing started nibbling my ear.

_**There's something about you and regular animals, Master. Do me a favour and don't accidently freeze this one solid too. I don't think that Hermione girl would ever forgive you if you killed an innocent animal in the house.**_

_Because no one has ever done so before._

_**Huh?**_

_That was sarcasm. I was simply thinking about the line of decapitated house elves, the other line of heads of animals killed for trophies, all the things we're killing for cleaning, and whatever poor animals the dark wizards who had this house before us decided to have killed._

_**You know, I think I've decided you're just angry in the morning.**_

_I'm just angry because that bird woke me up from a really good dream. And it did it by entering the room and landing. Right on top of my head._

_**Well, that letter attached to its leg might be of interest to you.**_

_You just had to go and use logic. Fine. _

I sat up and untied the letter from the owl, the owl hooted and flew out the window again. Putting the letter down I rolled over and went to sleep. Or rather I tried to go to sleep, the annoying voice in my head just wouldn't shut up.

_**That might be important.**_

_If it were urgent then they wouldn't have sent it to me by owl. It's six in the morning, whatever it is, it can wait until a normal hour._

_**Whatever you say, Master.**_

I ignored the fact that my Zanpakuto was trying to guilt me into reading the letter and went back to sleep, unfortunately though, no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't manage to seem to get to sleep. Hyorinmaru was sitting in the front of my mind, emanating a disappointed and upset aura. It was the equivalent of someone sitting an inch in front of your face and staring at you. Eventually I gave up and picked up the stupid letter.

It was written in a cream envelope with green ink, opening it up it revealed a letter that had the school supplies I needed (and I already had) and told me that I had been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Yay.

I already knew all that.

_Are you happy now?_

_**I suppose I am. Thanks.**_

I tried to go back to sleep, but found that I couldn't. Eventually I gave up and got dressed. This time I cleaned off my Shihaksho with a quick cleaning spell and wore it again. I also wore the haori and Hyorinmaru. If the school lists were anything to go by then the others would be going shopping today. Or maybe they would still be cleaning more, who knew what would happen.

I climbed out onto the roof and found Urahara and Shihoin sitting there looking at the sunrise, "Good morning." I said softly.

They both nodded at me and we sat there in silence, watching the sun rise over the city. Eventually it was finished and they both began moving about, Yoruichi tossed me a sleeping bag and said, "Roll this up."

I shrugged and did it, it's not like I had anything better to do. Kisuke turned and sent me a knowing smile, "So where did you sneak off to last night?"

"To destroy the first horucrux I found. That's one more down. It was surprisingly hard to deal with though, it played tricks with your emotions and cast illusions that you had to get through."

"Sounds like fun." Yoruichi chuckled.

"Strangly enough, it was. Maybe just because the thing was stupid enough to try and send me an illusion of Aizen to scare me off. I enjoyed running him through."

"Now I really wish I was there," Urahara sighed, "How come you get all the fun?"

"I carried the thing around all day, which means I get to be the one who hacks it to pieces." I said, sticking the sleeping bag in their suitcase. I wondered how it was all going to fit, but when I looked inside I saw that there was still all sorts of room left in the suitcase.

"Interesting." I said and Urahara grinned at me.

"A temporal space displacing suitcase, I can get you one cheap, Hitsugaya-kun.

"Thank, but I think I'm good." Knowing him he would try to hide some dark object in the corner of it so no one could ever find it again before passing it off to me. You could trust Kisuke's products, but only as long as he never offered them to you cheap.

"Suit yourself." Kisuke shrugged, "I have some other stuff for you too. Here's the horucrux detector." He passed me a thin blue cell phone, "It works exactly the same as your soul phone, except it will only ring once it's near a horucrux and you can't call anyone on it. The screen will show you where they are. All you have to do is zoom out and you'll get a bunch of arrows pointing you to the horucruxes. As you get closer to them zoom in on the radar. It's accurate up to about five-hundred meters. After that it's up to you. It won't ring around Harry, I've programmed it to ignore him since we all know what he is."

"This is a really nice piece of work, Urahara-san." I said politely, looking at it.

He picked up the fan and pretended to act embarrassed, "Oh, it was nothing."

I rolled my eyes at his antics.

"And here's the glove." His eyes darkened seriously, "When are you going to try and get the horucrux out of Harry?"

"Once all the other ones are destroyed. I have a feeling Voldemort didn't mean to make Harry a horucrux, so he didn't put any defences around him. Besides, I assume you know this, but the Order has this insane fanatic idea that Harry has to be the one to kill Voldemort. Because of that he's under guard constantly. I'll have to wait until we get to Hogwarts to do anything."

Kisuke nodded, and he looked as if he was about to say more, but there was a knocking noise on my bedroom door. "Another new day." I said, and I climbed back through the window right when Mrs. Weasley opened the door.

"You- you- you were on the roof?"

Urahara and Yoruichi- who was in her human form- looked over the edge of the roof, their heads upside down. I think Urahara had his hat glued to his head, because gravity says it should have fallen off by now. "He was visiting us!" Urahara said cheerfully, "Good morning!"

Mrs. Weasley let out a screech of shock when she saw him and Yoruichi, her mouth fell open as she looked at the cat woman, "You're human! And you're a girl?"

Yes, it was another new day.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: So later on in the Chapter we'll be having some Third Person POV because it'll help get everyone's reactions to certain events down, and I figured that learning some of the wizard's thoughts was long overdue.**

**Also, an apology is owed to all of you. I won't be able to update as often, school is smothering me, as is work. Just an example, I have three (yes, **_**three**_**) French tests next week, two major presentations, my Ontario Literacy Test (yes, as far as the government is concerned, I am still illiterate- bet that makes you feel confident about the quality of my stories), I had a math test yesterday. And that doesn't even begin to cover History and Geography.**

**That being said, I'll still update, and things will pick up again over the summer holidays.**

**Chapter Twelve- The Prefects and the Golden Boy**

**Hitsugaya POV**

We went down to breakfast after explaining to Mrs. Weasley that Yoruichi was in fact the cat she had seen before, and that she was in fact female. And then assuring her that sleeping on the roof was actually what many Shinigami seemed to prefer. And assuring her that my room could be frozen without causing me harm. And . . .

Actually, we just spent a lot of time reassuring Mrs. Weasley.

Eventually she continued her wake up rounds and I was left in peace. Or rather, relative peace because apparently Ron got something else in his letter, as did Hermione. Mrs. Weasley let out a shriek of pure joy, luckily the window was right underneath mine, so we all jumped down into the kitchen.

Walking over to Harry, who was standing forlornly in a corner, I asked, "What's going on?"

"Ron and Hermione are prefects." He explained. Although his face was happy and he looked like he was trying very hard not to be jealous, Potter was obviously a little uncertain about why his friend was chosen and not him.

"Good for them." I said, nodding, "Although I probably wouldn't want to be one."

Harry looked at me, "What- why?"

"Well, from what I hear this year you're all doing something called OWLS, right? Having prefect duties on top of what the teachers are assigning you will be vicious." I explained, trying to nudge Potter in the right direction so he would stop moping, "And if someone were to have had a really, really busy and weird year the year before then they would probably be a little bit behind and having to catch up."

Harry frowned at me, "I suppose so."

I nodded sagely in response, "But think of how happy Ron must be right now to finally do something for himself, and think of how much Hermione likes rules. Do you think Dumbledore chose well?"

Harry nodded again, "I suppose."

I frowned, "You're not really acting like it."

Harry glanced around the room, "Well, I just figured that . . . well . . . it would be me."

I nodded, "And I'm sure a lot of other people assumed that too. But think, Potter. I can guarantee you will break rules this year, a lot of them. You can't be a Prefect if your devotion isn't a hundred percent. Ron and Hermione have both spent most of their school years backing you in your mad schemes, and I'm sure you all loved that, but let them have their fun too."

Fred and George came over too, "He's right, mate." They told Harry, "You just cause too much trouble."

"Besides, strategically this is a good move on Dumbledore's part." The three of them turned to look at me, "Think of it this way Harry; if Dumbledore were to make you a Prefect then the Ministry would rant on even more. This way there are two good, solid Gryffindor Prefects, and they won't be biased against you, so you can keep up your mad haired schemes without interference. And also, this will show people Dumbledore doesn't always think about you. I bet I can guess right now who the other house prefects will be."

"Really?" said Harry.

I nodded, "Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw will be people who aren't biased to one side or another. Slytherin will be people who- I hate to be the bringer of bad news- will probably hate your guts. This will balance out the fact that your best friends are prefects."

Harry sighed, "Malfoy. And the girl will probably be that toad Parkison."

"See, at least you know you're prepared." I said. Harry rolled his eyes and we paid attention to Mrs. Weasley, who was still fawning over the new prefects.

Ron was currently trying to push his mum away from him, "Mum . . . don't . . . Mum, get a grip."

Fred, George and I winced, "Poor kid." I muttered under my breath and the other two nodded in agreement.

Fred and George nodded, and Mrs. Weasley continued babbling at Ron, "I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Oh how wonderful, that's everyone in the family."

"You two just got disowned." I told the twins.

They nodded, full of mock sadness, "We'll always be next door neighbours around badge receiving time. We have been ever since Percy got one on the year we should have got one."

"Oh. Somehow though, if what I heard about your brother is true, you probably don't want to be anything like him." They both nodded, and we turned back to watching to show.

Mrs. Weasley was still babbling happily, but eventually she said, "Well, what will it be? We gave Percy and owl, but you've already got one. So what will it be?"

Ron looked utterly stunned, as if someone had hit him from behind with a particularly hard board, "W-what?"

I just got flashbacks of Kurosaki, Ron even had that stupid 'I don't know what's going on' look on his face.

"You've got to have a reward for this!" Mrs. Weasley told him, she was practically glowing with happiness, "How about a new set of dress robes."

"We already got him some." Fred piped up, he seemed a little bit disgruntled about that.

Ron looked like he had already chosen what he wanted, but he seemed to be worried about something as Mrs. Weasley rattled off different things. Eventually he spoke up, "Mum . . . can I get a new broom?"

Mrs. Weasley hesitated, and I realised the magic brooms the wizards flew on must be expensive.

"Not a really good one . . . just . . . just a new one." Ron hastened.

Mrs. Weasley nodded, "Of course."

The group broke up, Harry wandering off somewhere, Hermione to write a letter to her parents, Fred and George stayed to harass Ron. Urahara and Shihoin had been silent witnesses, but they too climbed out the window. Eventually all the Weasleys left and I was left alone with Mrs. Weasley.

Oooh... this will be fun.

_**Not.**_

_Ah well, I'm not exactly alone right now._

_**Unless you plan on materializing me, then I don't count.**_

_Well . . . _

_**No.**_

_But . . ._

_**We are not materializing me. I refuse to have any part in this madness. If you materialize me I will 'accidently' assume it's for a training fight.**_

_Fine . . ._

Mrs. Weasley looked around, "Toshiro, dear, would you mind helping me set up a party for the two of them?"

"Of course not. Just please try to call me Hitsugaya, in Japan only family and really, really, really close friends call each other by their first names." I said cooly.

"Here you go, dear. Put these on the table. The order can meet in the drawing room today."

I sighed and grabbed the plates. I could've sworn she put a bit more emphasis on the _dear _than necessary. If only I were home and she was in my division. She'd never call me dear again. Soon enough we were done decorating. Mrs. Weasley looked around, "Well, it's only ten. I suppose I should see if anyone wants anything from Diagon alley. I can pick up the stuff while I'm getting Ron's broom."

I nodded, saying it would be a good idea while wishing that the woman's pride would allow me to help her pay for Ron's broom. I didn't offer though, it would just insult her.

Then my Soul Phone started ringing.

I frowned and slid out of the room and back into my bedroom. Urahara and Shihoin were in there playing cards, I looked at them and said, "Urahara, if I were to leave things to you for a while here would you mind if I went off for a while. I can tell Mrs. Weasley I just went to visit some friends in England."

"What are you planning on doing?"

I held up the Soul Phone, "Orders. There's a Hollow close by."

"Don't get too beat up."

I smirked, "If I let one teeny tiny hollow beat me up then I'd be pretty pathetic."

"Yes, well, you'll be the one explaining your _friendly activities _to Mrs. Weasley if you come back covered in blood." Urahara smirked at me.

I ran downstairs, pretending not to look rushed, I told her, "I'll be going out today, I've got some friends here I want to look in on."

"You're dead." She said flatly.

"That doesn't mean I don't have friends. Besides, I'll tell you a secret, my friends are dead too." I winked and walked out the front door, and before she could stop me I was gone using shunpo.

Opening the Soul Phone I began travelling North, looking around cautiously, "Come on," I said after I had been travelling for a good twenty minutes, and I was standing in a forested area, "Where are you, you little hollow."

It decided to tell me by swinging a blow at my back.

Cheater.

I jumped backwards and tucked my phone in my pocket with a grin, "Found you." I told it, "You know, attacking people from behind isn't very nice."

Apparently this one had some semblance of control because it said, "I not nice. You tasty. Me kill."

"Sure." I said dryly, pulling Hyorinmaru out, "You do that."

I lunged over its head and brought Hyorinmaru down through the mask from behind, and I put enough reiatsu into the blow that the sword travelled through all the bone, brain, muscle and whatever else was in there smoothly.

Hyorinmaru sighed, _**That was fast.**_

_We're not done yet. Do you sense that?_

It was the reiatsu signature of a whole soul. I gave my wrist one quick flick and the blood rolled off of Hyorinmaru. Sheathing him I looked around, "Hello?" I called in English, "If there's anyone here then you can come out now. The monster is gone, I promise I just want to talk to you."

I was surprised when not one, but three, souls walked into the clearing. One was a brunette woman holding a small child in her arms, the other was a man wearing glasses. All of their Chains of Fate were still fairly long, so I knew that they were newly dead.

Bowing to them I said, "Hello,"

They nodded, and before I could say anything else the woman said, "Do you know what happened? Why won't anyone talk to us? Are we invisible? And why are there these chains on us?"

I sighed. I hated it when they hadn't realised they were dead yet, and I had to explain it to them. "Well, I have no way of putting this lightly, but the only way for me to answer your questions is to tell you that you've died. Your chains of fate have been snapped and you are no longer alive."

The woman froze, and I had the feeling that if she could then she would have become paler. Unfortunately she's a ghost, so there was no way to tell. "We're . . . we're dead?"

I nodded, "It's no big deal, really. As I'm sure you can see you're pretty much the same." I paused, "Right now."

"Right now?"

"You will need to pass on soon. If you stay here for a long time then eventually you will turn into a monster like that one that I just purified."

"But . . .how do we pass on?"

"It's simple, really, I can do it for you right now."

The man spoke for the first time, "How do we know we're going to a good place? If it's bad then I'll stay here despite the risks."

"The Soul Society is a place similar to this one, except that you never get hungry."

They all looked at each other, "Fine." The woman nodded, then she paused, "Actually, I have another question. Will things go the same way for us if we're . . . wizards."

I nodded, "Wizards are still humans. You should have no problems."

They all nodded, and I pulled out my sword. They all stepped back. I rolled my eyes, "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you."

Before they could protest I tapped them all with the hilt and the family faded away, the only reminder that was left were a small trio of Hell Butterflies that would take them to the Soul Society. I sighed and walked away, realising that that family was probably murdered by Lord Voldemort. They certainly fit the description. Hopefully they would have better luck in the Soul Society. They seemed like some of the more rational spirits I had met.

I looked at the time in the Soul Phone, it was only ten thirty and I had a fairly large amount of time to myself before I should be heading back. I frowned, thinking of what to do. I couldn't just go train, because training with the limiter on was a pointless exercise, and I wouldn't be able to take the limiter off until I was able to find a very secluded place (like the North Pole) where I would have to train for four or five days.

All in all, I obviously wasn't going to be doing much training until the mission was over. Maybe I would be able to get a week of leave over Christmas or something.

And there were no more Hollows around.

Maybe I could find a Library and do some research on England's geography. The Horucrux finder shows me a rough map, but it doesn't really show me a specific building or area. Knowing more about England could help me find them easier, and it will also help me know what I'm getting into when I go searching for one.

I turned and used shunpo to head back into London. I had to admit, being invisible had some definite perks. Being able to 'fly' using Hoho made those perks even more predominate. No one commented on the small white haired child that was flying through the air above the city to avoid the traffic.

I found the town library quickly enough, walking in I spent the afternoon picking books and watching as the Librarians stood there scratching their heads as the books they could have sworn were _right there _would disappear for twenty minutes before magically appearing in exactly the same position. Eventually I took pity on them and moved to a less popular, more dusty part of the Library (they had begun to jokingly attempt to hit the 'ghost' with a broom and the stupid idiots almost brained me twice).

At around six I went back to the Black house, Mrs. Weasley would be starting to throw her party, and I would never want to be late for such a glorious bonding experience.

I was not, however, expecting Mrs. Weasley to actually hold me to my friend lie. As soon as I walked through the door she said, "You're back! Why didn't you bring your friends?"

Oh shit.

"I didn't really think it would be wise to bring them to the headquarters of a secret organization. I highly doubt Dumbledore would be impressed if I did so." I told her calmly.

Unfortunately, Dumbledore was standing in the corner, and he obviously didn't like the fact that I had snuck off away from his Order to kill a Hollow and destroy a Horcrux without telling him because he just smiled benignly and said, "Oh, I'm sure any friends of yours are friends of mine, Hitsugaya. Why don't you go invite them."

Damn. How was I going to get out of this one? All the kids were standing there, so I couldn't admit that I went out to kill a Hollow and send on some souls of people that Voldemort murdered.

Then I had an idea, and I decided I wasn't going to try to get out of it at all. If they wanted to see my friend than they could see my friend. Even if he looked a little . . . odd.

I bowed, "Of course, Dumbledore-sama. I'm sure they'd be happy to. I'll go get them."

I wasn't sure whether or not it was my sudden agreement, or my sudden obedience, but Dumbledore looked a little suspicious. I decided to plough right on ahead with my plan, "I must warn you though, they are an odd looking bunch and they don't like it when people comment on their appearance."

And with that I left again, heading out the door to go find a quite place to blackmail my Zanpakuto into coming to a party.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**Third Person POV**

Albus Dumbledore liked to believe that he was not a stupid man, and as such, he disliked it immensely when people treated him as such. He was well aware that Hitsugaya Toshiro was very much his equal; however, he couldn't help but treat the obviously hardened warrior like a child. Because of this, he felt immensely irritated when the young Captain lied about where he was going; how was Dumbledore supposed to trust someone who constantly hid their motives and refused to follow simple orders.

And then there were the boy's partners, Yoruichi Shihoin and Kisuke Urahara. They were another pair that were relatively untrustworthy, so when they immediately burst out laughing when he sent Hitsugaya out to find his non-existent friends, he was obviously suspicious. Walking over to them he said, "May I ask what is so amusing? I do love a good joke, particularly when it is coupled with butterbeer in a friendly environment." With a flick of his wand the elderly man conjured up the mentioned drink.

Urahara smiled and pulled out a fan and tilted his face so that his eyes were in shadows, "We were just excited to see the results of that little showdown. Not that very many other people would have noticed it."

"The boy was obviously not visiting friends today, I believe he's dug himself into a bit of a hole." Dumbledore replied, shaking his head, "I do hope he's not particularly bothered by it."

Yoruichi chuckled and leaned against the wall, "Don't underestimate him, Dumbledore, he'll come back with friends. Even if he was out killing Hollows all day."

Dumbledore assumed that the fact that she had mentioned Hollows was a slip of the tongue, but Urahara knew that the former Stealth Commander never let things slip without a reason.

"So that's where he was." Dumbledore said amiably. Yoruichi nodded, and Dumbledore continued, "But where would he find substitute friends?"

They shrugged and Hat 'n Clogs shrugged, "Who knows? But if anyone can make friends fall out of the sky then it's our lil' Shiro-chan."

Yoruichi snickered and they walked away, Dumbledore didn't pay much attention to them since their conversation- which seemed to be about the hazard of frostbite for some reason- and thought back to what the cat woman had said.

He couldn't help but think that there was some kind of hint there. If he had to guess then he would say it had something to do with that odd weather burst in the Soul Society when the boy released his Reiatsu, and how he had controlled it efficiently. However, Dumbledore hardly thought the ability to control weather would come in handy inside a house. Therefore it must be something else.

Meanwhile, while Dumbledore pondered his 'dilemma', Hitsugaya was doing his best to persuade his Zanpakuto to come to a party. Unfortunately, Hyorinmaru shared his young Master's dislike of social activities. It took several minutes, a couple of fist-fights and some name calling before the Zanpakuto realised his Master was serious and that he might as well just go for the hell of it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**Hitsugaya POV**

_So you're okay with coming out right now? _ My voice was calm, and my lips barely moved, but every word that I said to Hyorinmaru could be heard easily because of the way it echoed through my mind.

_**Revenge will be sweet. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces.**_

_You realise they won't know you're my Zanpakuto, right? I plan on calling you Daiguren the entire time. Sorry if that's rude._

_**Not at all, I understand it's merely an alibi. Better you use part of my name than nothing at all. Even if it is the name of my bankai form.**_

I nodded and closed my eyes, sinking back into my body. When I opened my eyes again I was sitting on the grass under the tree, my Zanpakuto beside me. Hyorinmaru looked over at me, "Now what?" he was in his human form, but I frowned.

"You changed how you looked?" my voice was incredulous. He had never changed his appearance before, and I would have never expected him too. I mean, he still had the tail and everything, there was nothing he could do about that, but he had gotten rid of the ice mantle he wore and the sword that hung at his side.

Although I had the impression it would only take him a few seconds to materialize the sword.

Hyorinmaru chuckled, "No, I just left behind some of the more conspicuous pieces of my attire, like the ice mantle and the sword. I figured it would be best to get rid of those before someone notices the similarities."

I nodded, "Well . . . thanks. I guess. So, part two of the plan. Ice clones. I'm thinking we make a woman with green hair, and a child with blue hair and dragon feet. That way they'll assume the differences are a family thing and won't ask about them."

The materialized Zanpakuto spirit nodded, "Sure. I'll get the kid."

We spent a few minutes making the fake ice people as realistic as possible. They were virtually flawless, their skin felt like skin, they could talk and if you were to cut them then they would bleed. The first was a tall woman with long green hair and bright blue eyes, she had an easy smile and the kind of laughing behaviour that I hoped would offset Hyorinmaru's silence. The child was a small girl, with light blue hair that was almost white. It was held up in pigtails with dark blue bows that were the same colour as her eyes. Both wore traditional Japanese clothing.

With that done we went back to the house, and the party was in full swing when he got here. I looked over and got a smug smile when I saw the looks on Dumbeldore's faces. Controlling the ice clones took a fair amount of concentration so after we introduced ourselves to everyone in the house and made a few minutes of polite conversation Hyorinmaru and I went and sat beside Moody, he took one look at the two ice people and said, "What th'ell are those." His voice was muffled since he had just taken a bite of chicken.

"Ice clones." Hyorinmaru said simple.

He frowned, "And that would make you 'is sword then. Pleasure to see you in the flesh. Does your name change when you materialize, or is Daiguren an alibi."

"Likewise. And as for the name, it's complicated."

Ron was presented with his new broom, a letter arrived for Hermione from her parents telling her how proud they were and Fred and George were having a chat with Mundungus. I saw a few bags pass between them and rolled my eyes when I figured what they were doing wasn't exactly legal. After about a half an hour the ice clones started melting so they 'excused' themselves and 'left'.

Hyorinmaru and I sat with Moody, who was inspecting every bit of food before he put it into his mouth, rolling my eyes I said, "Moody, there is a difference between constant vigilance and being paranoid. None of those chicken wings are poisoned. Mrs. Weasley has to be the last person on this planet who wants to poison you, and I doubt that a Death Eater snuck into this house to spike the food."

By the way, I feel the need to say that 'Death Eater' is one of the most pathetic names I have ever heard.

" 'S not a Death Eater I'm worried about. I saw Kreatur lurking about earlier."

Ah, the house elf. I hadn't seen very much of him, he seemed to be avoiding me like the plague for some reason. It might have been because I threatened to freeze him solid. I don't know.

I sighed, it was oddly silent in my mind with Hyorinmaru beside me. I wasn't really finding this natural. Alright, it was worse than 'not natural' I much preferred to have Hyorinmaru in my mind where he could talk freely.

Moody heaved a great sigh, "Time to go show Potter the photo."

"You don't look to happy about that. Who's the picture of?" I asked curiously.

"The old Order, at least half the people in the picture are dead or worse than dead. Including Potter's parents. But Dumbledore wants me to show him, I don't know why."

I frowned, "Neither do I." Moody stood up and walked over to Potter, and I frowned at Hyorinmaru, "What on earth is Dumbledore thinking?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. It looks like the party is wrapping up, though, I'm going to go 'take my leave'."

I waved and Hyorinmaru walked out to the front door and promptly de-materialized. I gave a sigh of relief when I felt his presence in my mind, is voice echoed through almost immediately after that, _**It's good to be home.**_

_I decided I don't like not having you with me. From now on you're not materializing unless absolutely necessary._

_**Agreed.**_

I looked up and saw Potter talking to Moody. If I didn't know better than I would say that the boy was about to throw up. Eventually Moody- who was pretending to be completely oblivious- was sidetracked by Tonks and Potter made his escape, going and sitting on the top of the stairs.

_Should we go talk to him? _I was unsure of what to do in social situations like this, Momo, Ukitake and Rangikou were the only two people who I really spent a large amount of time with, and for the most part all of them were mature adults who could deal with their problems if given a large amount of time.

_**It would be the kind thing to do.**_

I nodded and went up the stairs, sitting down beside him I said the first thing I could think of, "So Moody's picture bothered you?"

Potter gave a pathetic sounding sigh, "Kind of. I mean, it was nice of him to try and all, but all those people who were hurt by Voldemort . . . including my parents."

"It wasn't an easy thing to see."

Harry nodded, "It wouldn't have been so bad, except that they were all smiling. They looked so happy. And then they all died gruesome, horrible deaths. I just wish that," he paused, searching for the words, "Hell, I don't know anymore. Everything is backwards. I don't think I would have reacted as badly if I hadn't seen Cedric d- last year." He cut off the word 'die' mid sentence.

"War can be like that some times," I said softly, "Just look on the bright side of things; those people in the picture enjoyed what they could. They lived life to the fullest and that's why they looked happy. They died for what they believed in, and there are worse ways to go."

Harry laughed bitterly, "That doesn't seem to make much of a difference right now."

"It never does."

"Like you'd understand." Harry said bitterly.

I looked at him sadly, "I understand more than you'd think."

"Has anyone you know . . . died?" If it had been anyone else I would have blown up in their faces, told them it was none of their damn business and then left. But with Potter I knew he was trying to show himself that this was normal, that this was something he can get over.

"Yes." I said shortly.

"If you don't mind my asking . . . What happened?"

"A man ran me and my friend through and then after he was finished with us he went and massacred half the school."

That was actually pretty close to the truth when it came to Aizen, Harry stared at me blankly, and then said, "I'm sorry."

I shrugged, "Nothing to be sorry for. If I didn't want to tell you then I wouldn't have."

"Is that why you're here?"

I nodded, "We only have a handful of students left, and reopening the school will never happen. The few of us there are left have scattered around the world to try and find a good place."

Harry nodded, "And the order meetings?"

"This is a secret, but the truth is we're kind of like ambassadors. If we were to relocate here than our teachers would as well and they would join the Order. We needed to see what we were getting into."

Harry nodded, "And the man who . . . you know?"

"He's still out there, just like Voldemort. Trust me, you'll know him when you see him. No description necessary. Not that I think you'll see him. He's still in Japan."

Harry nodded, and then sighed, "The world is filled with ugly people."

I sent him a rare grin, "Ah, but for every bad person there are twenty good people willing to stop them. All they need is a push in the right direction."

Harry just shook his head, "It's hard to see it like that."

"It might be hard, but it's true."

Harry shook his head and we sat there in silence for a few moments, suddenly I laughed, Harry sent me a look and I explained (actually, I was hoping he wouldn't notice the subject change), "I can't wait to see the look on Mrs. Weasley's face when she finds out the 'friends' she bullied me into bringing tonight either don't exist or have been here all along."

"Huh?"

"The man was the materialized form of Hyorinmaru, the other two were ice clones I created."

He broke into a grin, "Seriously? I don't think Dumbledore would be impressed."

I shrugged, "He started it."

"You realise I used to say that when I was eight and my cousin bullied me, right?"

"If that was a comment on my apparent age I suggest you retract it. Immediately."

"You wouldn't do anything."

"Oh, I wouldn't-" I was about to continue when I heard something, I held up a hand, "Do you hear that?"

"It sounds like Mrs. Weasley . . . and I think she's crying."

The two of us ran up the rest of the stairs to the drawing room.

**A/N: Ooooh, cliffy. I apologize for any irritation that might have caused. I also apologize for how short that Third Person POV was- I tried, but I kept accidently slipping into first person. Not to mention it just felt unnatural. I'll try it again later, don't worry.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: And here's the next Chapter, the boggart scene was actually surprisingly hard to write so I hope I did it justice. Anyways, on with the story!**

**Chapter Thirteen- The Boggart**

**Hitsugaya POV**

As Potter and I sprinted up several flights of stairs towards the drawing room my mind was running through several different possibilities. It was what I was trained to do; if you were running to an unknown situation, whether it be a simple hysterical woman (the worst situation) or a huge hollow (I'd take one of those over a hysterical woman) you ran through every possible scenario to prepare yourself.

I'll have to admit, I wasn't expecting what happened at all.

We got to the door and I grabbed Harry's arm, he looked at me, "What?" he hissed.

"She's not alone in there." I murmured, "There's another reiatsu signature." I frowned, "It's whatever was in the drawer. Do you know what it is?"

"How the hell do you know what it is?"

"Eastern magic you'll learn this year. And I don't know what it is. Do you?"

"A boggart."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Not unless your worse fear is dangerous," I looked at him and he elaborated, "It has the ability to transform into whatever your worst fear is."

I froze. What was my worst fear?

I was afraid of Aizen, sure, but that wasn't overcoming. In fact, I can easily say I hate him more than I fear him.

Do I fear losing my family and friends the most? That could be it, but I had the feeling my fear was something more basic. Fearing losing my family in friends was a fear that made me act, just like I was afraid of getting killed in battle. Worrying about others hurting my family and friends wasn't all of it, but it was close to it.

Of course!

I didn't fear _others_ killing my family and friends. I feared _me_ killing my family and friends. Ever since Matsumoto found me and told me I was killing my Grandmother with my reiatsu my worst fear has been that I wouldn't be able to control it. That I would hurt those around me. It made me hesitate, I wouldn't use my most powerful attacks if there were people around who could get hurt, I trained endlessly when it came to controlling my reiatsu. It was so obvious I can't believe I missed it.

The thing I feared most was . . . _myself._

"What are you afraid of, Potter?"

"Dementors. You?"

Here comes an awkward moment, "My powers."

"Huh?"

"It's a long story, just don't repeat that to anyone. When I push the door open you're going to swap places with Mrs. Weasley, and then I'll take care of the dementor."

"Why don't you do it?"

"Because that would kill everyone within ten square miles. Not exactly a good idea. And no, I am _not _explaining any further." I slipped into Captain mode and Harry responded just like any sane person would, giving a nod of affirmative before we opened the door and walked in.

Ron Weasley was laying dead on the floor.

Mrs. Weasley gave a choked sob and waved her wand, "_R-r-ridiculous!"_

Crack!

The body turned into Ginny.

She tried again.

Crack!

Dead Harry.

Crack!

Dead Fred and George.

Crack!

Dead Bill.

Crack!

Another Weasley child I don't know, I assumed it was Charlie.

Crack!

A red haired boy with horned rimmed glasses.

Crack!

Dead Harry.

Crack!

Dead Mr. Weasley.

Crack!

Dead Hermione.

Crack!

Dead . . . me?

Under any normal circumstances I would say I was touched. Right now, though, it was kind of disturbing seeing my mutilated body on the ground.

"Anytime now Harry." I told the boy beside me. Mrs. Weasley's sobs increased in frequency, shaking her entire body. The woman was having hysterics. "Potter!" I snapped, "You need to go. I can't do it, we'd all get killed."

Potter nodded, and ran in and grabbed Mrs. Weasley, pushing her out of the way and towards me. I grabbed the woman and picked her up, using shunpo to get her out of the room. She turned to stare at me, and I grinned at her, "Relax, Mrs. Weasley. It's just a boggart. Your kids are all safe and sound."

Meanwhile the boggart focused on its new target and turned into a dementor. It's reiatsu became exactly the same as that of a dementor and I realised that I wouldn't be able to use the low level kido spell I originally intended. I would have to use a higher lever one. And Potter couldn't be anywhere near it.

Damn.

A new plan flashed into my head and I followed through, not really thinking of the consequences.

I summoned Hyorinmaru's materialized form and he appeared right beside me, he already knew what my plan was so I didn't need to repeat it. I began the kido, "_Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six!__ Bakudo Sixty-One, Rikojukoro!"_

Just as the mass of Kido sped off towards the dementor, binding it's spiritual pressure so it wouldn't be able to stop my next spell, Hyorinmaru swooped in and pulled Harry out the door behind me. Before the dementor had a chance to focus on me I yelled, "_Hado four, Byakuri!" _

It shot through the dementor, killing it. The boggart disintegrated just the way the a hollow would. Turning around to the two humans behind me I said, "Well, that was fun. Shall we return to the party before someone notices we're missing?"

There was a long, tense moment of silence.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head, "Not until you explain exactly what you just did." She pointed at Hyorinmaru, "And where on earth did he come from? Didn't he leave? And wasn't he dressed differently earlier?"

Hyorinmaru shook his head and chuckled his usual laugh, the one that sounded like ice falling into the sea. The humans turned to stare at him and he smiled at them, he shook his head and said, "I am always where Toshiro is. After all, no Zanpakuto can travel far from their Shinigami."

I held out my hand and Hyorinmaru's material form melted into the sword in my hand, sheathing it I said, "The first spell was a level sixty binding spell. Potter, if anyone in your school asks you the spells only go up to fifty. We can't teach anything above that because it's too risky. The second was a level four destructive spell. Once again, Potter, you never saw that. Everyone happy?"

Mrs. Weasley nodded and Harry said, "How did anyone not notice that?"

"I assume Urahara felt my spiritual pressure building and distracted everyone."

Harry nodded and Mrs. Weasley looked at us, "You kids won't tell the rest of my bunch what I'm afraid of, will you? I don't want them to worry needlessly."

We shook our heads and Mrs. Weasley headed down the stairs. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to look at me, "So now you have to spill. Why are you afraid of yourself?"

"Because if I lose control of my reiatsu I could kill a lot of innocent people." I explained.

"Is that likely to happen?"

"It's virtually impossible, short of someone drugging me, removing all my barriers and then attacking me. Even then it's unlikely because Hyorinmaru would step in. Although, once again I ask you never heard that. Dolores Umbridge would _love _to use that against me."

Harry nodded, "Your secrets- all of them- are safe with me. Will you teach me how to do that other stuff?"

"What do you think Urahara is going to be teaching this year?"

"Awesome."

"It'll involve a lot of meditation."

"So? It's still awesome." He looked like a child that had gotten into a bag of candy. I rolled my eyes and the two of us returned to the party.

There wasn't really much of a party left, Urahara had broken a huge platter as the distraction and the most lively thing there was Moody fixing that plate. Most of the Order Members were calling it a night and Mrs. Weasly ordered us to do likewise.

I fell asleep quickly, and the next few days were spent packing up for Hogwarts. I actually spent most of my time reading up on the wizarding world with some books Hermione lent me. I had to admit that it was definitely an interesting place. All sorts of odd creatures, amazing spells that had a wider variety than Kido. I was definitely impressed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The morning that we were headed to the train station proved to be a rainy, dreary morning outside. Inside though, the mood had to be more uplifted than I had ever seen in the dreary house before. There were trunks zooming everywhere, people running around doing last minute things. At one point in the morning Tonks knocked over an umbrella holder made out of a troll's foot and the portrait started screaming again. The fact that I could barely hear the portrait gave a true example of just how loud and disorganized the house was.

I got changed into some Real World Clothing when I woke up before going down to watch the steady outflow of wizards.

Yoruichi and Urahara were the first to leave, apparently they were going to travel to the school using an illegal Senkaimon.

Honestly, I was half-tempted to report them as a reminder that I was actually a Captain and they weren't supposed to tell me stuff like that.

I decided against it, though, it just wouldn't be the Urahara Shouten crew without their borderline legal experiments that have to be the worst kept 'secret' ever. I'm pretty positive every Shinigami knew about those. And any Shinigami who didn't realise it after seeing the half-human-hollow-shinigami-Kurosaki stumble out of there has to be blind.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. If Kurosaki Ichigo isn't an illegal experiment, then I don't know what is.

I carried my trunk down to the stairs with minimum fuss and set it down on the pile, looking over I heard Moody muttering about how one of the wizards meant to guard the excursion to King's Cross Station hadn't shown up. I frowned and walked over to him, "Who hasn't shown up yet?" I asked quietly.

"Sturgis Podmore." Moody said quietly, "And he was on duty last night."

"Guarding the _weapon_?"

Moody nodded, "I can't say it's not worrying me."

"Do you want me to get someone to check it out?" I asked.

He shook his head, "I'm not even going to ask how you would do that. Either way, they've got it by now or they don't. It's too late for us to do anything. We just need to get this lot- and yourself- to Hogwarts."

I nodded, "Fine."

Sirius came up to us, "I think I might just come with you lot in dog form. That way I can cover for Podmore."

I frowned, "Any possibility of someone recognizing you?"

He shook his head, "Not that I know of."

Moody sighed, "I can't say I feel that this is a good idea, but you're a grown man and capable of taking care of yourself. Just be careful."

Sirius nodded, "I'll be particularly dog-like."

"You'd better," I muttered, "It's a little bit early in the game for me to be breaking people out of Azkaban."

Eventually the group was ready and we piled into several taxis with drivers that were looking rather stunned at the large, odd group getting into the car. I was hoping none of them would make it too apparent that they couldn't see me. I had re-shrunk my trunk and stuck it into my pocket so they wouldn't worry about the extra stuff. I climbed into the last car beside Harry and Ron, who had struck up a conversation about brooms.

Judging by the look on the taxi driver's face I had the impression that some memory modification spells would be in order once we got to the station. Luckily enough the two boys talked about brooms the entire way and they seemed to realise that it wasn't a subject that interested me so they let me sit in silence.

We got to the station and walked inside, Harry looked at me, "Where's your trunk?"

I pulled it out of my pocket, "Shrinking charm."

"You sword?"

I held up my wrist, "Dumbledore transformed him for me."

Harry nodded, "Cool."

I rolled my eyes, happy that the irritation was over. Fred and George walked up to me and asked me several different questions about pranks Kisuke told them about. Apparently Harry was in on the whole jokeshop thing, and he offered his advice from time to time. Sirius trotted beside us, giving as low 'yip' whenever he liked the idea of something.

We got to platform nine and I looked around, frowning. There was platform nine and ten, but nothing to indicate another train. I slowly reached out with my reiatsu and felt something in one of the barriers, the third out of four between nine and ten. I grinned, "Found it."

_**A good idea, it wouldn't do to have muggles on the train to a wizarding school. **_

_Agreed._

I followed the Weasley's, Hermione and Harry through the barrier. As soon as we got through we met a scene of chaos, there were kids running everywhere and saying hello to their friends. Owls were screeching and trunks were lying everywhere. A boy called out to us, "Nice dog, Harry!"

Harry waved back, a grin on his face. I hoped he didn't notice the way some people were edging away from him. Apparently the Ministry had partially succeeded in making him look like a lunatic. A tall, slightly pudgy boy walked up to them, "Hey, Harry. Hermione. Weasleys."

They all said hello back and then Hermione said, "Neville, this is Toshiro. He's an exchange student from Japan."

He looked at me and then asked, "Oh, cool. What's Japan like?"

"Different, but nice. Everything here seems kind of backwards." I answered.

"I'm sure you'll get used to it."

"Hopefully."

A shrill whistle sounded from the train, "That's our cue to get on." All over families were hugging their kids and saying goodbye, Mrs. Weasley hugged everyone, including me. It took all my self control not to push her away like I did Matsumoto. Matsumoto was a Shinigami who could take being nearly thrown into the wall, she just laughed it off and glomped me again. I doubted Mrs. Weasley would be so lucky.

We piled onto the train, by the time we got on the only compartment left was one with a particularily strange girl named Luna Lovegood. She was reading a magazine upside down, looking at all of us she gave a peculiar smile, "You must be Harry Potter." Her voice was listless and dreamy, and her eyes had a kind of constantly dazed look that made her kind of . . . creepy.

Harry nodded uncomfortably. She turned to the Weasleys and named them off too. Hermione and Ron weren't here, they had left for the prefect's compartment. Eventually she turned to me, "I don't know who you are."

"Hitsugaya Toshiro." I said, introducing myself.

She nodded, "You're foreign."

I nodded.

"You should really be more careful," she said, reaching out and touching my hair. I stiffened and Ginny had both her hands stuffed in her mouth to stop herself from laughing, "It looks like the Blibbering Humdingers have gotten to you. They've turned your hair all white."

"Actually, I was born with it like this."

She paused, "Oh, well that's a relief. They're contagious, you know." Abruptly changing the subject she said, "Where are you from?"

"He's from Japan." Harry said, cutting in for me. Luna turned to him and I sent him a relieved look.

Luna gave a nod, "Interesting." Before burying her nose in the magazine. I couldn't help but notice how she was reading it upside down. Scanning the cover I noticed that it said something about a hidden spell. I shrugged and assumed that was what it was about.

The door opened and the Neville boy looked into the compartment, "Hey, do you guys mind if I sit here? The rest of the train is full."

We all indicated for Neville to come in. I couldn't help but notice that the compartment was getting kind of full. When Ron and Hermione got back it would be a bit of a tight fit. He was carrying a rather odd plant, it was a small greenish grey thing covered in blister filled with what I assumed was puss. Ginny frowned, "What've you got there, Neville?"

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia." He said excitedly, "It's got loads of medical uses."

I perked up in interest, but Harry ruined it by saying, "Does it . . . y'know, do anything?"

"I suppose." He said, "It's got this really cool defense mechanism. Here, watch." He pulled a quill out and I realized he was about to trigger the defence mechanism. I launched myself under the bench Neville was sitting on right as he jabbed the quill into it. A dark green gloop prayed everywhere, everyone in the cart except me got covered in it.

Right then the door slid open and a girl with oriental features almost stepped in, Harry looked ten times more embarrassed than he did before, "Err, hey Cho."

"Bad time?"

"A little bit."

"I'll come back later then."

Well, that was awkward. The girl shut the door and fled, Harry levelled out a glare at Neville. He looked at Harry apologetically, "Sorry mate, if I had known she was coming."

He spat out a glob of the sap, "It's okay. Just tell me this stuff isn't poisonous."

"No, actually it's great for healing a lot of stuff. Still, I doubt anyone wants to be covered by it. Does anyone have their wand handy."

Ginny nodded, "Toshiro does." She turned to look where I was formerly sitting and she said, "But he has magically disappeared. Erm . . . Hitsugaya?"

"Down here," I told her.

Harry went slack face, "You lucky git." he informed me.

I shrugged, "Thank my trigger hair reflexes, they normally just make me extremely jumpy. Give me five seconds." I dug my wand out and cast the cleaning spell everyone gave a sigh of relief once the gunk was gone. Ron and Hermione returned soon after that, and the incident was repeated to them while Ron howled with laughter.

Luna, who had put down her magazine when Ron and Hermione arrived, picked it back up again. Hermione focused in on it and frowned at he, "Are you really reading that?"

She nodded, "I find it to be quite interesting."

"But . . . it's all rubbish." Hermione said, and I had to agree with her on that. I just wish she hadn't been so rude pointing it out to Luna.

Luna's voice lost its usual icy tone, focusing in on Hermione she snapped at her. "My dad's the editor."

Hermione blushed scarlet, "Oh . . . well, I'm sure it's got lots of interesting stuff too."

Luna pointedly ignored her and Hermione gave everyone a hopeless look. Ron shrugged and I settled back into my seat and put my head on my hand, looking out the window at the rolling landscape. The door slid open a second time, I assumed it would be the Cho girl from earlier, but I was given a disappointing surprise when I saw it was Draco Malfoy.

Malfoy gave a cruel smile, and I was suddenly reminded of the expression on Aizen's face when I found Hinamori. It was almost identical, like he was ready to enjoy the suffering of others. My eyes narrowed, and Malfoy began speaking, "Well, well, all the freaks in one compartment. We have Loony Lovegood. The blood traitors- man, your dad is about to get what he deserves. The albino."

"I find that ironic coming from you," I said calmly. I hadn't looked away from the window yet and my head was still in my hand. The Weasleys had leapt up from their seats. Everyone yanked them back down into their chairs.

Malfoy ignored me and said, "And there's Potter- Dumbledore found you a new mum yet?"

My eyes widened when he said that, that was a comment that went beyond mean. I turned away from the window and Malfoy looked over at me, I locked eyes with him. "Either take that back and get lost, or you'll be hanging from the ceiling by your ankles." The temperature was dropping steadily in the compartment.

Malfoy shot me one look, narrowed his eyes and said, "Trust the barbarian to use violence. Don't they teach you manners where you're from?"

"If insulting someone because their mother was murdered when they were a baby is what you call polite, then I'll stick with my barbaric ways." I said coldly.

Malfoy shook his head, "I suppose it's to be expected from one such as you. Crab, Goyle, let's go. We needn't bother ourselves with their type."

Wow, I would have never thought it possible for someone to have so many similarities as Aizen while being so different. For example, in the similarities, he had that 'better than thou' attitude down pat, and he already had the two lackeys. In the differences though, well, had I threatened Aizen he probably would have murdered all my friends before killing me and leaving with that smirk on his face.

Ginny heaved a great sigh and sat down, "What a git."

Harry, whose fists were clenched, said, "Tell me about it. I hope he runs off to join Voldemort soon."

"You shouldn't hope such things, Potter. For all we know he might just be conflicted." I murmured.

"You're the one who threatened to hang him by his ankles off the ceiling." Harry said pointedly.

Ron nodded, "He has a good point, mate."

"Yes, I suppose I did." I shook my head mournfully, "But I'm just a barbarian, remember? I just don't know how to act civilised."

"Barbarian, my ass." Ron muttered under his breath.

Hermione shot him a disapproving look and he pretended not to see it, turning to me she said, "You shouldn't say things like that. I know you can handle yourself, but Malfoy can get you in a lot of trouble. He's a prefect and he's got connections with the Ministry."

I nodded, "I'll be careful."

She nodded, seeming satisfied with that answer. She got up and went out to make some rounds of the train to help keep the peace. I wish her luck with that; the candy trolley has been around at least three times now and I'm sure almost all of the students are on a sugar high right now, and they all have magic sticks that can make objects around them fly. Judging by the occasional booming noises I heard they were doing just that.

Eventually Luna tucked the magazine into her bag and sat up looking, around. I had to admit that I was curious about what was in it, "Luna?"

She looked at me.

"If you're done with that magazine can I borrow it?"

She sent me a beaming grin and said, "Of course."

Hermione shot me a dirty look when she came into the room. I was too busy trying not to laugh to notice it. One particular article had caught my attention, if it was anything at all like the rest of the magazine, then there was no wonder Hermione was scoffing.

_**Sirius Black as He's Painted**_

Beside it was a picture of a man I assumed to be Sirius standing on a pile of skulls with a microphone in his hand. I promised myself I would somehow get a copy of the magazine to send to the Soul Society. Hopefully it would be able to cheer Momo up a little bit.

_**Notorious Mass Murderer OR Innocent Singing Sensation? **_

_For fourteen years Sirius Black has been believed guilty of the mass murder of twelve innocent Muggles and one wizard. Black's audacious escape from Azkaban two years ago has led to the widest manhunt ever conducted by the Ministry of Magic. None of us have ever questioned that he deserves to be recaptured and handed back to the Dementors. _

_BUT DOES HE? _

_Startling new evidence has recently come to light that Sirius Black may not have committed the crimes for which he was sent to Azkaban. In fact, says Doris Purkiss, of 18 Acanthia Way, Little Norton, Black may not even have been present at the killings. _

_"What people don't realize is that Sirius Black is a false name," says Mrs. Purkiss. "The man people believe to be Sirius Black is actually Stubby Boardman, lead singer of the popular singing group the Hob Goblins, who retired from public life after being struck in the ear by a turnip at a concert in Little Norton Church Hall nearly fifteen years ago. I recognised him the moment I saw his picture in the paper. Now, Stubby couldn't possibly have committed those crimes, because on the day in question he happened to be enjoying a romantic candlelit dinner with me. I have written to the Minister for Magic and am expecting him to give Stubby, alias Sirius, a full pardon any day now." _

The next article was only slightly less absurd, it was labeled 'How Far Will Fudge Go to Take Over Gringotts'. It featued Fudge standing on top of a pile of dead goblin bodies while strangling yet another goblin.

_Cornelius Fudge__, the __Minister for Magic__, denied that he had any plans to take over the running of the Wizarding Bank, __Gringotts__, when he was elected Minister for Magic five years ago. Fudge has always insisted that he wants nothing more than to "cooperate peacefully" with the guardians of our gold. _

_BUT DOES HE? _

_Sources close to the Minister have recently disclosed that Fudge's dearest ambition is to seize control of the goblin gold supplies and that he will not hesitate to use force if need be. _

_"It wouldn't be the first time, either," said a Ministry insider. "Cornelius 'Goblin-Crusher' Fudge, that's what his friends call him, if you could hear him when he thinks no one's listening, oh, he's always talking about the goblins and he's had done in; he's had them drowned, he's had them dropped off buildings, he's had them poisoned, he's had them cooked in pies..."_

While Fudge might possibly be attempting to take over Gringotts, I highly doubted he spent all his spare moments muttering about the destruction of their race. Fudge was corrupt, not crazy. I also highly doubted his friends called him 'goblin crusher'.

Handing the magazine back to Luna she said, "Did you like it? I have an extra copy if you want to buy it."

"Sure, how much is it?"

"Oh, I'll give it to you for free." She said happily, probably just excited someone was reading her family's magazine.

"Thanks." I said as she handed me another copy of the magazine.

"No problem." She went back to staring dreamily out the window and I sat back in the seat. The landscape around us had changed from long stretches of farm land into hilly forested areas filled with brooks.

Hermione stood up, "It's about time we got changed into our uniforms."

I undid the shrinking charm on my trunk before pulling my clothes out of it and re-shrinking it. Apparently there were washrooms we could get changed in down the hall, so I walked over to them. I had to admit that the wizarding clothing wasn't as odd as I though. The clothing underneath the cloak was relatively normal and the cloak itself was similar to a full sleeved haori.

All in all, it wasn't really all that uncomfortable.

I went back to the compartment, Malfoy was standing at the door again, harassing Harry. Little bastard. If he keeps this up I will hang him from the ceiling, consequences or not.

_**No, you wouldn't, you're too responsible for that.**_

_Hush, you're ruining my evil buzz. And the little git deserves it._

_**That he does. Just go for a sneak attack so he can't pin it on you.**_

_So I shall._

Malfoy made things far too easy for me though, this time I didn't even have to use a sneak attack, he was speaking, "You look out, though, Potter, your little white haired freak of a friend won't always be around to protect you."

"I dunno." I said dryly, less than an inch behind him. He leapt a foot into the air and spun around, "I can be in a lot of places at once."

Malfoy shoved me, probably trying to push me out of his way, "Watch it, midget." He snarled.

I ignored his shove, I imagine to him it felt a little bit like shoving a wall, and walked into the compartment to sit down. Malfoy was long gone by the time I did it, turning to Hermione I said, "Are sneak attacks acceptable? Because he just insulted my height, my hair, my personality and my ability to help my friends in the course of five seconds. I swear he won't be able to pin it on me."

Ron, Harry, Neville, Luna and Ginny all burst out laughing while Hermione pretended that I hadn't said anything at all.

In the distance I saw a small town in front of us.

Hogsmead.

We had arrived.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: And now comes one of the interesting parts of the chapter; the sorting. I hope that you all like the way that I decided to do it, and I hope you agree with the house that I put it in. To tell you the truth, I was torn between all four of them (except maybe Hufflepuff). Anyways, enough with my babbling. I hope you leave a review on your way out [=**

**Chapter Fifteen- The Sorting Hat**

**Hitsugaya POV**

I shrunk my trunk and stuffed it back into my pocket before following everyone off of the train. Hagrid stood over to one side waving his hand and saying, "Firs' years and transfers o'er here, please! Firs' years and transfers!" I said goodbye to Harry and walked over, slightly irritated at the fact that I was the same height as all of the first years.

Hagrid looked around, counting us, "Everyone here? Good, good. Follow me."

We followed him down a narrow path to a lake, with boats lined up. Across the lake a castle was glowing in the darkness, it's golden windows glowing in the darkness. I had to admit it was an impressive sight. Several of the students around me gasped, "Is that the school?" I heard one girl whisper.

"Right there is Hogwarts," said Hagrid, answering the question. I had to admit, it was a pretty impressive way to show off the school and make the first Hogwarts experience these kids had truly amazing, "Three people in a boat!" Hagrid yelled and the first years began piling in.

I ended up in a boat with Hagrid since the First years were too afraid to sit with either of us. The students were leaning over the sides of the boat to touch the water and gazing at the school on the hills. Hagrid warned them all not to lean to far over the railings, but apart from that they were left pretty much to their own devices. Hagrid sent me a grin, "So, was your school as impressive as this, Hitsugaya? I assume you went to a school, even if you've long since graduated."

I sent him a grin, "I went, yes, but it definitely wasn't this nice. They made us all write an exam to prove that we had spiritual energy and basic common sense, and then they stuck us into our uniforms and told us to be there at nine tomorrow."

Hagrid frowned at me, "Why do people go there then, if they work so hard to scare you lot off? Don't they care about attracting students?"

I cast a glance around to check that none of the other boats were too close before answering, "Well, I don't know why the nobles of the Seiritei go there. I do know that most people from Rukongai go there so that they can eat. I know that there are some people, like Renji and Rukia who went because all their friends had either died or become Shinigami too. Some people go because if they don't learn to control their abilities they'll kill everyone around them. Most people who go are all adults, so they feel no need to try and make students comfortable, and they also feel no need to try and attract students since most people with spiritual pressure will make their way there on their own."

Hagrid frowned, "How old were you when you went?"

"About eight, in Shinigami years."

"Why so early?" asked Hagrid.

"I was killing my Grandmother with my spiritual pressure, I had to learn how to control it." I said with a shrug, "And I was bored- my only friend had already left for the Academy."

"They couldn't just teach you the skills and let you go?"

"The Shinigami Academy isn't Hogwarts, its sole purpose it to train people for the three branches of the Soul Society's military. You can't just leave because they teach you several things that aren't meant for the general public. Once you're in, you're in until you die."

"Still, they couldn't slow you down?"

"I wouldn't let them. I actually have the fastest record for graduation; I condensed all six years into one. I'm the youngest Captain in the Soul Society."

Hagrid shot me a look, "So yer a genius, then?"

"Nah. I just didn't have anyone else there to hang out with, so I spent a lot of time studying."

Hagrid shot me a look, "Sure. We're here."

He got the first years out of the boat and led us up the hill towards the school. We walked into the doors where Professor McGonagall was waiting for us, Hagrid nodded at her and left. She looked at us and said, "I am Professor McGonagall, the Head of the Gryffindor house. You are about to be sorted into the four different houses in the school, each with their own head and morals. I hope you enjoy your time here, and I hope you will each take into consideration that this is first and foremost a place for learning."

All the first years nodded and we all waited outside the doors while she lined us up alphabetically, eventually she opened the doors up and we followed her into the room. Setting the hat on the stool in the front of the room, she took a step back.

And then the hat began _singing. _Really, I should have expected something this strange from these people. The words were simple, but I could hear the hidden warning;

_In times of old, when I was new,  
And Hogwarts barely started,  
The founders of our noble school  
Thought never to be parted._

United by a common goal,  
They had the selfsame yearning  
To make the world's best magic school  
And pass along their learning.

"Together we will build and teach"  
The four good friends decided.  
And never did they dream that they  
Might some day be divided.

_For were there such friends anywhere  
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?  
Unless it was the second pair  
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,_

So how could it have gone so wrong?  
How could such friendships fail?  
Why, I was there, so I can tell  
The whole sad, sorry tale.

Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those  
Whose ancestry's purest."  
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose  
Intelligence is surest."

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those  
With brave deeds to their name."  
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot  
And treat them just the same."

These differences caused little strife  
When first they came to light.  
For each of the four founders had  
A house in which they might

Take only those they wanted, so,  
For instance, Slytherin  
Took only pure-blood wizards  
Of great cunning just like him.

And only those of sharpest mind  
Were taught by Ravenclaw  
While the bravest and the boldest  
Went to daring Gryffindor.

_Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest  
and taught them all she knew,  
Thus, the houses and their founders  
Maintained friendships firm and true._

So Hogwarts worked in harmony  
for several happy years,  
but then discord crept among us  
feeding on our faults and fears.

The Houses that, like pillars four  
had once held up our school  
now turned upon each other and  
divided, sought to rule.

And for a while it seemed the school  
must meet an early end.  
what with dueling and with fighting  
and the clash of friend on friend.

And at last there came a morning  
when old Slytherin departed  
and though the fighting then died out  
he left us quite downhearted.

And never since the founders four  
were whittled down to three  
have the Houses been united  
as they once were meant to be.

And now the Sorting Hat is here  
and you all know the score:  
I sort you into Houses  
because that is what I'm for.

But this year I'll go further,  
listen closely to my song:  
though condemned I am to split you  
still I worry that it's wrong,

Though I must fulfill my duty  
and must quarter every year  
still I wonder whether sorting  
may not bring the end I fear.

Oh, know the perils, read the signs,  
the warning history shows,  
for our Hogwarts is in danger  
from external, deadly foes

And we must unite inside her  
or we'll crumble from within  
I have told you, I have warned you...  
let the Sorting now begin!

The hall broke out into whispers, and from what I heard it wasn't normal for the hat to give out warnings to the students. Given the current situation, though, its warnings made a great deal of sense.

She began calling out names, placing a ratty old hat on everyone's head. It would spend a few seconds in consideration, then it would yell out the name of the house they were to be sorted into.

By the time I went up there were four new Hufflepuffs, three new Ravenclaws, and one new child to Gryffindor and Slytherin each. Eventually McGonagall called out my name and I nervously went up to the school. My main fear was that I would be put in a house other than Gryffindor; it could be seriously detrimental to my mission.

McGonagall placed the hat on my head and it would have gone over my eyes, I tried to reach up to move it, but I couldn't feel my body. I immediately attempted to push the hat away using the reiatsu, but then a voice started speaking to me.

"Hold on a moment, I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to take a peek in your mind. Please stop trying to push me out."

I frowned and stopped a little, and the hat began reading my thoughts, "You're really not letting me in very far, are you? Oh well, I suppose it could be worse. Let's see, you are certainly intelligent. A genius where you come from, you passed all your tests in flying colours and your intuition is one of the sharpest where you come from. Ravenclaw would be proud to have you. And all that ambition, youngest Captain in the Soul Society, Slytherin would also want you. I believe, given what I have been shown, Sly-"

Deep in my mind I felt Hyorinmaru stir, he had been unnaturally quiet while the hat was here.

The hat froze, "Oh! Another being here, peculiar, very peculiar. I do wish I could see more. I get the impression you're holding back the memories that-"

Hyorinmaru chose that exact moment to jump me and yank my mental presence back in a grip that I couldn't fight off. _**My apologies, Master, I understand these memories are painful, but the hat needs to see them.**_

His voice was calm and disconnected, making it easy for me to understand him. Just because I understood his reasoning didn't mean I wasn't pissed though. I fought against his mental grip as hard as I possibly could. Mainly because I was reliving bits and pieces of the memories as the hat looked though them.

I was not enjoying this. Eventually the hat stopped, and it felt like it had been centuries, even though I had only had it on my head for a few seconds, and it said, "Well, well. Thank your friend for saving you from a particularily disastrous scenario. You would hate Slytherin, your poor background combined with your need to protect those around you would make you want to kill them. And you are more than capable of it."

_**Just get on with it, **_Hyorinmaru said softly, _**I am not enjoying this and neither is he. Those memories were painful. If you insist on staying longer then **_**I **_**will force you out.**_

"No, that is unnecessary. I know what I need to. His need to protect others, even at the cost of his own life and limb, shows he is clearly a . . . GRYFFINDOR!"

There was a thunderous applause from the Gryffindor table, the Weasleys were whistling and shouting while everyone else took their cue from them. I sat down beside Harry and said, "I am never letting that hat touch me again."

He looked at me sympathetically, "Hey, you're here now. There'll be no need."

Turning to Hyorinmaru I thought, _Thanks. You were right to do that._

_**I still feel bad about it, though, it is not my job to control you like that.**_

_Hey, you helped me. All is forgiven. Let's just forget that ever happened._

The last child was sorted and Dumbledore stood up, "There is a time for speeches, but this is not it. Dig in!" At his command more food than I had ever seen before appeared in front of me.

My mouth fell open at the vast array of food, after growing up in Rukongai I was shocked that this amount of food was even possible. It put Mrs. Weasley's cooking to shame. Harry grinned at me, "I know, I felt the same way. I take it they didn't feed you much where you came from?"

I shook my head, "There was virtually no food at all. When I wasn't at school a lot of people around me were starving to death. There's just so much." Changing the subject I pointed to a bowl of what appeared to be brown gloop, "And what on earth is that? It looks . . . well . . . different."

I didn't want to say it looked disgusting, that would be rude.

"Chocolate pudding." Harry spent the next ten minutes telling me what looked good, I took small amounts of everything and put it onto my plate.

Looking up at the staff table I saw Yoruichi and Kisuke, Yoruichi was in her human form and eating as much food as she could. Students around me were speculating who they were. They were definitely an odd looking pair. Umbridge was shooting them looks of disapproval. I almost choked on a mouthful of pudding when Yoruichi slapped Kisuke across the back of the head for flirting with McGonagall. Umbridge's mouth fell open in shock and I smirked.

Harry looked at me, "What is it?"

"Umbridge is getting an eyeful of Urahara and Shihoin, and she is not liking what she sees."

After what I assumed was about a half hour the noise level began to rise in the great hall and people had stopped eating.

Dumbledore clapped his hands and everyone fell silent, looking at him expectantly. No matter what I could say about his abilities to fight, he had certainly earned the respect of these students. He smiled at the drowsy looking students and began speaking, "I hope everyone enjoyed yet another delightful feast, and I hope you are feeling ready to learn for the upcoming year. For those of you who are returning, I'm sure you have noticed we have several new teachers on staff this year. Professor Umbridge," he gestured to the small woman, "will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." The hall brokine into whispers and Dumbledore politely waited for silence before beginning again, "And on much more exciting news. This year Hogwarts is having a trial exchange program, from the Shinigami Academy in Japan we have two new teachers and one student. Proffesors Urahara and Shihoin will be teaching you a type of wandless magic. I hope you all give a warm welcome to Mr. Hitsugaya over there, because if all goes well with him we can expect more of his fellow classmates next year. Who knows? Maybe some of us will travel to their school as well."

"Not a chance." I muttered to Harry.

"Now, as some of our older students should know by now, the forest on the edge of the grounds is off limits. Mr. Filch has asked me-" Umbridge began coughing a little bit, "-to remind you that fanged Frisbees-" Umbridge's coughing made her look like she was about to lose a lung, "-are forbidden in the halls at all times-" Umbridge was starting to turn a little blue and I was hoping someone had poisoned her.

I turned to Harry and told him that, and he nearly fell off his chair from the laughing he was trying to smother.

Eventually McGonagall did something, "Would you like a cough drop, Proffesor Umbridge?" Her voice was sharp and pointed and she might as well have said 'shut the hell up'.

"Oh, no thank you dear." She said, "I wished to just speak a few words as the new Ministry representative for Hogwarts."

_**She should try saying the **_**only **_**Ministry representative at Hogwarts. I bet she'll leave after Christmas.**_

Umbridge cleared her throat again and began talking, "I cannot begin to express what a pleasure it is to be here and to see all your happy little faces smiling up at me."

_I give her a month. That woman obviously has no teaching experience 'happy little faces' my ass. Half the kids in here aren't even listening, a quarter are wincing in embarrassment and the final bunch look like they want to throw her out the window._

_**Hmmm . . . the Weasleys are looking particularly murderous, ne?**_

_That they are. I hope Fred and George will let me in on their plans._

As if the previous 'happy faces' comment hadn't earned her any funny looks, she then went on to say, "I am looking forwards to getting to know you all, and I hope we'll all get to be very good friends."

When she offered her friendship several of the student's expressions began to lean towards Ichimaru's 'Friends? Just let me stab you in the back while I give you a hug to celebrate that' smirk.

_**I take back any previous comments at how long she's going to last. It's no longer based on the hatred of the students. Given the looks on the Gryffindor's faces they all absolutely loathe her. I believe it will now be based on how much access the students have to the Weasley's prank supply.**_

She gave a long, rambling speech that made virtually no sense. Most of it was paranoid bullshit, like 'progress for progresses sake must be prohibited', which loosely translated meant 'we're afraid of you so we're going to shove you in a box and hope you don't learn anything'. My personal favourite was 'if you have any concerns about any of the adults in the school, please let me know so that I can help solve the matter peacefully', I think we all know that means, 'let me know so I can get their ass fired'.

At the end of her speech Dumbledore stood up again, "Well, that was certainly illuminating. I shall send you all off to bed now, First Years, look to your prefects to find out where the dorms are."

"It certainly was illuminating." Hermione murmered.

Ron looked at her, "Sounded like a load of bull to me."

I shrugged, "She was long and she rambled on about it, but basically what she said was that she was that she was here to help the Ministry meddle in Hogwarts affairs."

"Oh." Said Ron, and Hermione shot me a beaming look.

Hermione looked around and said, "Well, anyways, we have to take the first years to the dormitory now." Raising her voice so it could be heard over the din she said, "First years! First years over here please!" The group of children began gathering around them.

Ron gave out a yell of, "Hey, Midgets!" But the glare I sent him was icy enough he never did it again. After that, the only person getting more terrified looks than me was Harry.

Harry, needless to say, was not taking that well. He had that bitter look on his face, "They'll get over it." I told him. He looked at me soundlessly, and I immediately go what he was trying to say, "If they don't then they're not worth you worrying over. Honestly, I know this sounds bad, but once Voldemort comes back they'll be eating their words." I smirked suddenly, "And then they'll probably start worshipping you again. Won't that be _fun?_"

Harry shot me a dirty look, and then said, "Let's head up."

I nodded, "Sure." I followed him through the halls of the castle. For the most part they were dark and cold, but I didn't particularly mind that. Eventually we came to a huge open room that had moving staircases, they had to be the slowest, most useless things I had ever seen. And that says something when you think about the makeup of the Seiritei. I never thought it would be possible for somewhere to have more impractical stairs than my home.

Eventually we got to a portrait with a woman in it. I nearly choked when I saw her, I had noticed something odd the reiatsu of the pictures before now, but I hadn't really thought much about it until now. Now that I looked closely, though, I could tell that there was actually an artificial soul embedded in it. This is insane, since when have humans known how to make artificial souls?

Harry looked at the portrait and said, "Mimblus Mimbletonia." He mispronounced it slightly, but the portrait swung open anyways to reveal a warm sitting room. There was a fire crackling in the hearth and it was filled with comfy chairs and students. It was a warm, loud kind of place.

I hated it instantly.

Harry didn't seem to be in the mood to socialize either, so the two of us went up to bed. Our dorms were in a tower room at the top of a staircase. I looked out the window and saw that the view was absolutely spectacular. Maybe one day I'll be able to sneak up onto the roof. That'd be a nice place to sit.

There were already two other boys in the room, Harry grinned at them and said, "Hey, Dean, Seamus, did you have a good summer?" I ignored their conversation and began packing up.

Dean shrugged, "It was okay, I guess, better than Seamus' anyways. He was just telling me."

At that point Neville walked into the room, his plant in his hands. I cast it a look and decided it probably wouldn't explode unless someone poked it, so I should be pretty safe from the dark green gloop. Neville looked at Seamus, "What happened?"

Seamus looked guilty, shooting a glance at first Harry, and then at his feet. I winced, seeing what was coming next, and the Seamus began talking, "Me mam didn't want me to come back."

Harry looked stunned, "Why not?"

"Well . . ." Seamus said slowly, choosing his words carefully, "I suppose it was because of you," at the look on Harry's face he said, "And Dumbledore."

Harry's face was a mixture of rage, embarrassment and confusion. It was one thing to have a bunch of first years looking at him funny, it was quite another to have one of his best friends do so. Eventually he managed to stutter words out, "You mean . . . your mum believes the Prophet? She thinks I'm bonkers and Dumbledore's an old fool."

"Something like that." Said Seamus.

Harry just nodded and said nothing, angrily changing into his pyjamas and finishing unpacking his stuff. Practically ripping it out of the suitcase and slamming it into the drawers beside his bed. Seamus made a move to say something, and I assumed it was an apology, so I didn't stop him.

Looking back, I'm really regretting that decision.

"Look . . . what _did _happen the night . . . you know when . . . with Cedric Diggory and all." I froze and stared at the boy with a look of shock. Who in their right mind would ask an obviously angry and upset person a question like that? Is he insane?

Harry stiffened and turned to glare at him, "I don't know," he snarled, "Why don't you just go read the Prophet like your stupid mother!"

Seamus' mouth fell open and he got angry too, "Don't you have a go at my mother!"

"Why not? She obviously has a go at me all the time!" Their voices had risen and now they were screaming at the top of their lungs. I let it go on for a few minutes before sighing.

"Urusai." I said, my voice calm and commanding. It carried over the room (possibly coupled with a _slight _ temperature drop) and the two boys fell silent.

Seamus looked at me, "What do you want?" His face was red now and he looked ready to have a go at me too.

I sighed.

"You're both being idiots. Harry, Seamus didn't mean to be rude. You have to remember that he is here , and not back home like his mother wanted. Therefore he is not his mother, and he does not believe you're insane."

"He just told me I was." Harry hissed, his fists clenched. I had started with Harry first since he was more likely to listen to me than Seamus was.

"You two were in a rage driven argument. Neither of you said anything you actually meant."

Seamus was looking smug.

"And Seamus, what the hell were you thinking? There are questions you do not ask someone. Never. Under any circumstances. Asking them what happened when someone they liked and respected died was one of them. I understand you are curious, but at the very least you could have apologized first and waited for him to stop being angry."

The smug look was wiped off of Seamus' face.

"Why on earth was he angry? I just told him me mum didn't like him."

Harry scowled, his voice was controlled enough that I felt no need to stop him from speaking, "Do you have any idea what it's been like for me since Cedric died? No one trusts me anymore. Everyone thinks I need to be hospitalized. Seamus, it isn't just your mum. I probably wouldn't mind so much if it was just her. But it's not."

Seamus frowned, "I suppose I can see. Sorry, mate, but if you had just said instead of harping on at me . . . I probably would've listened."

Harry nodded, and said, "I'm sorry I had a go at you."

Ron came up the stairs, "Is everything alright? I heard yelling."

Everyone shrugged, "Fine, Ron." I said. He nodded and went back downstairs.

There was a moment of silence as everyone finished getting ready for bed. It was slightly uncomfortable, but I really could care less. Eventually everyone fell asleep. Knowing my habit of leaking reiatsu while I was sleeping I closed the curtains around my bed and put up a very thin kido barrier. It would still let noise and stuff through, but it wouldn't let any of my reiatsu out. I couldn't freeze my bed or anything, but at least I could save my roommates from the temperature drops that I was prone to.

I unsealed Hyorinmaru and closed my eyes, I slept soundly, but whether that was due to the fact that it was relatively cool, or that I could feel how high I was off the ground through the tower walls I had no idea. I just knew that this was one of the good nights and I wasn't plagued by nightmares of dying friends.

Unfortunately, I could tell already that Harry was not able to say the same. He tossed and turned all night, and it was enough to make me wonder if I should wake him up.

I didn't, though, and morning came soon enough.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: And here's your next Chapter. Sorry for taking so long to update, don't forget to leave a review on your way out.**

**Chapter Sixteen- An Uncanny Impression of a Toad**

**Hitsugaya POV**

The next morning I went down with Harry and Ron for breakfast. Hermione was sitting there staring at a poster on the bulletin board. Her face was etched in a frown, I glanced at the poster and saw the words 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' on it and figured that they had taken their plans a little too far- or at least, a little too far in Hermione's mind. I really didn't see anything wrong with it, if someone wanted to offer themselves up for testing then that was their own business. Unless the twins pulled a Kurotsuchi and spiked someone's tea, then I figured it was fine.

Hermione ripped the picture off the wall and muttered angrily the entire way to the dining hall. Harry seemed amused, while Ron seemed downright terrified at having to choose between his brothers and Hermione.

Intelligent of him. I wouldn't want to have to make that choice either.

We got into the mess hall and Hermione stormed over to Fred and George, her face turning a peculiar shade of red, she slammed the paper down in front of them and said, "This stops now." Before turning on her heel and walking back to us. We sat down at the table and began eating. It was a relief to actually be able to pick my own food. I really didn't want to eat that much, so I just grabbed a slice of toast and a cup of tea.

Ron piled his plate high with food, and then began shovelling it all down. I wrinkled my nose and pointedly tried not to look at him. Ron looked around, "I don't see McGonagall anywhere, I wonder what our classes are going to be today."

Hermione shrugged, about to answer, but a black haired girl marched up to the table, talking to Harry. I winced, bracing myself for a repeat of last night, but surprisingly enough the girl just said, "Good summer, Harry?"

Harry nodded, "Sure."

"Good. Look, I've been made Captain for Gryffindor."

All this was going way, way over my head so I decided to just sit back and listen.

Harry grinned at the girl, "Good for you, Angelina."

Angelina ignored the compliment and said, "Yeah, well, we need a new keeper now that Oliver's left, and we also need a new chaser. Alicia Spinnet seriously injured her elbow, and it's not something that can be fixed by magic. Apparently some kind of jinx hit it wrong, and she'll be out for this season. Tryouts are on Friday at five o'clock and I want the whole team there, okay? Then we can see how the new person fits in."

Harry nodded, "I'll be there."

The girl nodded and left. I decided I liked her, she had good leadership skills, that's for sure. Hermione hummed a little, "I had forgotten Wood had graduated. I suppose that'll make a difference in the team, won't it? Shame about Alicia, I hope she gets better soon."

Harry nodded, "I hope so too. Not to mention Wood was a good keeper."

Ron looked slightly nervous, "I suppose it'll be good to have some new blood, though."

Harry nodded, "I suppose." Ron's face fell a little and I sighed.

_Honestly, it's obvious that he wants to try out._

_**It's easy for us to see because we have a fresh set of eyes, they might just be accustomed to it.**_

Hermione frowned at a group of Slytherin students picking on a first year Hufflepuff, "Yeah," one of them said, "It's true that if you go outside of your dorm after curfew- even for something like going to the washroom- then they have these huge, ferocious, poisonous monsters with fangs and huge claws that'll chop you up into tiny bits and scatter you around the grounds. No one knows what they're called, but they'll attack anything on sight."

The girl's eyes widened, "R-r-really?"

One of them nodded, "Oh yeah, when I was in first year they used to make us run around the castle at midnight for our practical defence against the dark arts exams. I've never been so scared in my life. They still do it, I think. Don't worry, though, only a couple of you will die."

Hermione slammed down her goblet, "Fools." She hissed, and then she got up. The first year girl was in near tears now, and I don't think I've ever seen Hermione so mad, "All of you return to your table, I'm taking away twenty points from you each. Terrorizing a first year, I don't know what you were thinking when you decided to say lies like that."

The Slytherins all walked off, huge scowls on their faces. Ron scoffed, "I know why that hat said what it did, but how it thought we'd ever be friends with the likes of them . . ."

For once I agreed with them, Hermione came back over, towing the first year with her. She sat her down beside a Gryffindor first year and soon the two of them were chatting away, "That was a nice thing to do, putting her with the Gryffindor."

Hermione shrugged, "It seemed like the right thing to do."

We continued eating our breakfast and Professor McGonagall came around the dining hall with the schedules, she handed me a stack and I passed them out to the rest of the group sitting around me. Ron winced, "Mondays are looking grim. Double potions with Slytherin. That'll be hell. The there's a break. Then we have double defence against the dark arts with Ravenclaw. That should be bearable, assuming Umbridge isn't a complete toad."

"Umbridge will be a complete toad." I said, "I don't know if you've had a good look at her, but I have never seen anyone more toad-like."

Ron scowled and continued, "Then we have divination with Hufflepuff, and herboligy with Slytherin again."

I nodded, "What's divination like?"

Hermione snorted delicately into her pumpkin juice, "It's complete and total rubbish."

"That sounds promising." I said sarcastically.

Everyone made a quick trip up to the common room to grab their books before heading back down and into the dungeons. I had to admit that it was rather dank and dreary down here, but at least it was cool. I couldn't stand the heat of the Gryffindor common room, what was warm and cheery for other people was smothering for me.

We waited outside the classroom until Snape showed up, he ignored the students with a cold disinterest while we walked into the room and sat down. The Slytherin students were smirking at the Gryffindors, and Malfoy in particular seemed to think that this was going to be an entertaining class. The Gryffindors glared back at the Slytherins.

I sighed and ignored them all.

Snape wrote instructions on the board, and then began speaking, "Today we will be making Shrinking Solutions. It is not a particularly complex potion, so even the greatest_ imbecile _should be able to make one properly. This is a review, after all, and we shall learn who exactly _cheated _last time." The fact that Snape glanced at Neville was not a fact lost on the Slytherins, who all began snickering slightly. Neville trembled in his seat and I found myself glaring with the rest of the Gryffindors.

_**You're not as different from these students as you think you are. **_

_No, no difference at all. Minus the fact that I'm a dead Captain of the Soul Society who can kill them just by releasing my spiritual pressure. But still, no difference at all._

Snape threatened to use Neville's failed potion on his toad as a demonstration, and the glares in the room- including mine- increased tenfold.

_**You're glaring just like they are. Power wise, yes there is a difference. Personality wise, you're deluding yourself.**_

_Anyone would glare. He's being a complete asshole. One incident does not make me the same as them._

_**I've been counting since we got on this mission. You're currently at thirty-two incidences.**_

I stopped to think about that.

_Jerk. Doing that without letting me know._

_**Ignorant nestling. Refusing to see the truth.**_

_Barbaric dragon. Resorting to insults._

_**Idiotic child. You started it.**_

_Mindless moron. That excuse never works._

_**As fun as this has been, your teacher is giving you final instructions. **_Almost under his breath he muttered, _**Little brat.**_

_Always got to have the last word, ne? Thanks, I guess I'd better get started making the shrinking potion._

_**Don't drink any of it, God knows you don't need to get smaller.**_

_If it were anyone but you who said that . . ._

I tuned out the annoying creature I opened my book and began adding minced daisy roots, peeled shrivelfig, sliced caterpillars, a rat spleen, and a dash of leech juice. I stirred it occasionally and eventually it was the neon green the book described. I was instantly reminded of one of Kurotsuchi's poisonous concoctions and I wondered who in their right mind would drink this.

I mean, sliced caterpillars and a rat spleen? I doubt even Yachiru would eat that. And that girl will eat anything.

Hermione's potion was the only one even remotely similar to mine. Neville's was a bright orange and Malfoy's was congealing in his pot. I rolled my eyes and continued. Neville was panicking. Barely moving and speaking in a tone so low that Snape wouldn't hear I said, "You've put in too many rat spleens. Put in one more portion of everything else. Your potion should even out then."

He nodded and did so, breathing a huge sigh of relief when it turned a proper colour- for all that neon green wasn't exactly what I would call proper- and it looked like he wouldn't poison his toad. At the end of the class Snape collected samples of everyone's potions, glaring when he couldn't find anything wrong with Hermione's, mine or Neville's.

We got out of the classroom and I breathed a sigh of relief, although it had been nice at first, the room had soon become filled with fumes of all sorts and colours. I was shocked no one had been poisoned and died yet.

Next up was Defense Against the Dark Arts. I had a seat in my chair and looked around, the class was covered in pink laces and doilies of all kinds. There were stuffed cats sitting around the room, I shuddered and wondered if it was possible that the Dark Arts were scarier than this. I had never seen so much pink and lace in my life.

It was traumatizing.

Eventually Umbridge came in, and she stood in front of her desks with her arms clasped in front of her and a huge, toad-like smile on her face as if she had just swallowed a particularly juicy fly that had screamed particularly loud as it went down her throat.

I shuddered and felt a little bit like I was going to be sick. Umbridge smiled at everyone and said, "Good morning, class."

There was such a huge silence I wondered if Tosen had snuck in and used his bankai.

Umbridge made a 'tsking' noise, "Now that won't do at all," he voice was sugary sweet, and I was once again struck with the impression of her sticking her tongue out and catching a fly, "When I say good morning I expect you to say 'good morning, Professor Umbridge'. Say it with me, _good morning, Professor Umbridge."_

"_Good morning, Professor Umbridge." _The class chanted back at her, and some of them looked so depressed that I wondered if the Ministry wasn't attempting to use some sort of psychological warfare at Hogwarts.

Her smile grew even wider, revealing a row of perfectly white, perfectly straight teeth. "Now isn't that better? Wands away please, and quills out!" there was a rustle of paper and bags as students followed her instructions. When the room fell silent she began speaking again, "Now I want you to copy these course aims down off of the board for me."

My quill scratched on the parchment as I did so. I couldn't help but think of what a waste of paper this was. Just for my own personal entertainment I wrote it down in Japanese kanji and added my own personal opinion beside each of the points. For example, 'students will learn all theory thoroughly and will not be expected to know practical usage' turned into 'students will learn only things that they can never use in life, and they will be expected to roll over and die if they are ever attacked'.

It's not like any of this bullshit that Umbridge was teaching would ever be on our exams.

While I was quietly amusing myself, everyone else in the class was stewing angrily. I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone exploded, Hermione Granger put up her hand and Umbridge pointedly ignored her, her face became set and she held her hand up without even twitching it. Eventually Umbridge finished explaining the Chapter she was explaining and turned to Granger. "Was there something you wanted, dear? A question about the Chapter?"

Hermione shook her head, "Not about the Chapter, about the course aims."

Umbridge nodded encouragingly, the sickly sweet smile still on her face, and Hermione continued, "There's nothing about actually using defensive magic. How can we expect to defend ourselves if-"

Umbridge cut her off, "There will never be need for you to use defensive magic, Miss Granger."

I narrowed my eyes, _She's studied up on all of Dumbledore's favourites. She knows exactly who everyone is without asking their names. She'll make their lives harder._

_**I suppose we'll have to stop her then, ne, Master?**_

_It might be time to talk to Fred and George. The two of them will have something that we can use._

_**I am looking forwards to that.**_

Hermione tried to speak, "But-"

Umbridge cut her off, "Put up your hand before you speak, Miss Granger."

Hermione pointedly stuck her hand up in the air, as did the rest of the class including myself. I was totally ready for round two with Umbridge. Hopefully there would be a repeat of the Leaky Cauldron incident.

Umbridge didn't pick anyone immediately, though, instead she looked at us all glaring at her and fell into rant mode, "You children have all been given a false impression of the wizarding world, your previous teachers have tormented and terrorized you. You have had crazed wizards who showed you unforgivable curses-"

"Yeah, but Moody turned out to be a nutter pretending to be the real Moody." Said Dean Thomas pointedly.

"-You have had werewolves-"

Ron spoke next, "But that werewolf taught us more than all the other teachers combined, and he was the only one to follow Ministry curriculum. Just because you're racist doesn't mean the rest of us are." The entire class voiced their agreement of that, so there was nothing Umbridge couldn't do since she couldn't punish the entire class. I was happy there were no Slytherins here; they would have sided with Umbridge.

Speaking of Umbridge, her face still had that unnatural smile on it. I would have been reminded of Gin's creepy smile, except that I could still see her eyes, she continued speaking, "-and other such freaks. Your only proper teacher was professor Quirrel."

"Yeah, he would've been great, except he had Voldemort stuck in his skull." Harry said loudly. The class fell silent as Umbridge glared Potter down. Tension reigned thick in the air, and everyone was looking back and forth between Umbridge and Potter.

Umbridge's smile became even bigger, "You see? This is exactly what I was talking about. All of you have been trained to suspect everything and everyone. You see monsters where there are no monsters. I'm sure Mr. Hitsugaya is snickering up his sleeve at you."

_She didn't! _I crowed mentally, _Yes, she did! I can't believe she forgot the incident at the Leaky Cauldron. This is too perfect! That's such a huge opening._

I shook my head, "Actually, the way Potter and the others are looking at it is quite logical. Theory will not get you anywhere, whether it be in a duel or against a common magical creature such as a boggart. Your instincts will take over and you're not going to be able to think straight. The only matter I'm laughing up my sleeve at is your childish insistence that Voldemort is dead. Most of the world believes that is impossible- I mean, really? A baby killing a full grown wizard is impossible. The Ministry is denying it only with sheer hardheadedness, there is no actual proof that Vodemort is dead."

Umbridge glared at me and Potter, and the class their breaths, Hermione decided to jump in too, "Frankly, the Ministry isn't helping anyone but themselves by insisting Voldemort is dead."

Ron jumped in too, "Yeah, they're just a bunch of politicians in that matter, trying to make it seem like the world is fine and dandy so the people will vote them in."

_**I love this, it's like poetry in motion. It'll just keep building, and building, and building . . . **_

I snickered mentally while keeping a straight face, Dean Thomas spoke next, "I believe Harry and Dumbledore too. Dumbledore has got loads more behind him than Fudge, and he's made it abundantly clear he's not in this for himself."

Soon the rest of the class was jumping in, politely stating their opinions. Umbridge was blindsided only for a few seconds, soon enough she said, "That is enough. You have all become paranoid from years of abuse."

"The only abuse we're getting is from your voice." Muttered someone, but Umbridge couldn't seem to pinpoint who it was.

Umbridge ignored it and continued speaking, "And the next person to speak out of turn will receive detentions for a week."

The threat did little to dampen the mood in the room, most of the class was practically glowing right now. Peer pressure could work wonders if one used it in exactly the right way. In getting the class to make a stand together, it was ensured that that class would stay together. They felt like they were special right now, like they were making a difference. Hopefully soon it would spread to the rest of the school.

Then it would be time for stage two of the plan.

_**I've said it before, I'll say it again. You're one scary kid.**_

_Oh, I did hardly anything. I just took advantage of a huge gap Umbridge left in her defences and the rest of the followed me through. No big deal._

The class passed in a smug silence, and I could barely keep the grin off my face.

Divination and Herboligy were two fairly boring and acceptable classes. Normally I might be bored senseless, but today Harry's mood was contagious. The boy was practically jumping up and down at how no one had called him insane. I had to admit that after I left the Defence Against the Dark Arts room I was unable to keep the grin off of my face.

At dinner time the success was the most obvious- with the exception of the Slytherin table- everyone had heard what had happened. And since it's the nature of the adolescent child to rebel and do what everyone else is doing, soon everyone had jumped on the bandwagon. People walked up to Harry and apologized to him, others offered congratulations.

Hermione looked at Umbridge, who was glaring at the events going on within the students. "She's not going to let this lie." said the girl, "She's going to do her best to snuff it out and get all the students against Harry again."

I shook my head, "This is only part one of the plan, Hermione. Soon enough Umbridge will be so unbearably strict and humiliated that no one will respect her. Besides, we've only got the students on our side. Most of the teachers already side with Dumbledore, but we need to get the parents on our side too. Can you find a way to do that?"

Hermione shot me a glance, "You're up to something."

I nodded, "Most definitely. So can you do it?"

Hermione shot me a glance and then leaned back, "I can. But it might take a couple of months, though."

I shrugged, "We have until before Christmas when students go home."

"Good," Hermione nodded, "Also, there's some other things that need to be addressed. Like the lack of self defence the students are learning. Umbridge isn't going to teach us anything, and I get the feeling wandless magic won't be useful for us for quite a few years."

I nodded, "That is a problem. I assume that you have a solution, though, or else you wouldn't be bringing it up."

Hermione nodded, "I think I might. I think we can form a study group of sorts that we can practice defensive magic in. And I think Harry should be teacher."

I nodded, "He should. He's got the practical experience with your magic. Just be careful, Umbridge is already royally pissed."

She nodded, "I will." Pausing she said, "And be careful with what you're doing. I get the feeling it'll involve a lot of pranks and sabotage."

I shrugged, "It will. But Hermione, our school taught us things that were a lot different than yours. Umbridge can't catch me if she tried. Besides, Proffesors Urahara and Yoruichi are on our side fully. If you need anything, ask them and they'll help you immediately."

"How far on our side?"

"As far as I am." I said, "In our old school professors and students worked together in teams, there was a little bit of student-teacher ranking, but not very much."

Hermione nodded, "I'll probably ask you so you can ask them."

"That's fine, just keep yourself out of trouble." I said, "Don't hesitate to throw me in front of the bus. What happens this year really has no effect on my future, yours on the other hand . . . well, how many lectures have we gotten on OWLS so far?"

Hermione nodded, "I see your point." She chuckled, "I wonder how long it's going to take Umbridge before you get chucked out?"

I smirked, "The old bat will never be able to throw me out unless she catches me red-handed."

Hermione nodded, and I finished up my supper, "Anyways." I said, "I'm going to head up and finish some of my homework while the common room is still pretty quite."

"That sounds like a good idea. Have fun."

"That depends on your definition of fun." I said dryly, climbing out of my seat.

I didn't go to the common room like I had said that I would. Instead I went to the classroom Urahara and his 'assistant' were teaching out of. The two of them were sitting there waiting for me. Their desk was covered in food, and I wondered idly how the two of them had managed to sneak out of the dining hall without looking odd.

Not that they didn't already look odd.

Urahara smiled, it was one of his 'I have a secret and you don't, na na na na na na' smiles. I rolled my eyes and said, "How was your first day."

"Good, good. We had some Slytherins. I can see why the Gryffindors don't like them. Umbridge hired half of them and they spent the entire day trying to get us sacked."

"How did that go for them?" I asked curiously.

"Poorly. Umbridge hasn't had very much luck today, by the sounds of it. I hear you were tormenting her again, Hitsu-chan." Yoruichi laughed.

I shrugged, "I only said three sentences to her- and by default the rest of the room- compared to some of the things Fred and George are getting for me, and some of the plans I have."

"When did you make those plans?" asked Urahara curiously.

"I went to go visit them for a while on the train when they were the only ones in their compartment. They were more than happy to help me." I grinned, remembering back to the conversation . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_I snuck out of the compartment. We were about halfway to Hogwarts and I wanted to find Fred and George. I had some stuff I needed to talk to them about- like how to drive Umbridge as insane as Kurotsuchi. I had just seen Lee Jordan, Fred and Georges best friend, walk past me. He had been the only person sharing a compartment two troublemaking twins, so they should be alone now._

_Walking in I almost gagged at the amount of candy laying around, "How can you eat so much sugar?"_

_George spoke around a mouthful of what appeared to be chocolate._

_A squirming, frog-shaped chocolate. How vulgar._

"_C'mon matshe, itdh awl gouud."_

"_Pardon?"_

_He swallowed, "C'mon mate, it's all good. We can eat loads of this stuff. Besides, we're doing market research on the ingredients in the packages."_

_I shrugged and stepped over a pile wrappers, and sat down in one of the few empty seats. "Speaking of jokes, I was wondering if you had any supplies that would make life particularly hard for a teacher? I'll pay you for them, of course."_

_Fred and George grinned. Fred pulled out a list, "Here's all our goods and prices."_

_I nodded, "Mind if I borrow this?"_

"_It's all yours, mate."_

_I nodded, shooting them a grin I said, "This is perfect. I doubt Urahara could think up something this good." They both grinned, they had met Urahara, so they knew what I was talking about._

_I skimmed over the list on the way to the compartment. Exploding quills, dung bombs, garrotting gas, portable swamps, miniature rainclouds, skiving snack boxes of various types, extendable ears, hair dyes and skin dies that would explode onto someone and turn them into a rainbow for a week. There was everything I could imagine here._

_Man, this was going to be fun._

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Since that conversation I had thought up several other things. I might need to get some supplies from Fred and George, but I think I'll be good on my own. If I had my way I would begin tonight. I was going to start small, Umbridge was going to find all writing supplies in her classroom and office replaced with the exploding kind. Breaking in would be a chore and a half, but it would hopefully be worth it.

Urahara showed me his lesson plans, which showed the first week would be basic theory. Then he would teach '_sai_', progressing from lower level kido spells to higher level kido spells. I couldn't wait until the students learned the higher level kido spells. Right now I was the only student in the school with skill in the subject. Because of that it would be a dead giveaway if I were to us it in a prank.

And if I'm going to get kicked out of this school, it's not going to be because I made a stupid mistake like that.

"Urahara," I asked the shopkeeper, "Can you by any chance get your hand on Umbridge's class schedule for me?"

The shopkeeper grinned, "I figured you would ask such a question, so here it is. And it's written in Kanji so she won't know what it is."

I nodded and grabbed the schedule, " Thanks. I'll take my leave then."

"See you later, Hitsu-chan!" Urahara chirped happily as I left the room.

I gritted my teeth at the nickname and walked out without another word. Heading up to the dormitories I went and actually did some of my homework so that Hermione wouldn't look at me funny when she came up. I sped through it quickly, it was all relatively simple stuff that the teachers had talked about in detail today.

I had just finished the last bit of Snape's essay when the common room began to fill up with students who were done their dinner. I made my escape and decided to go check out the library for interesting books. I didn't really have anything in mind, so I went and grabbed a history book on witch hunts, apparently the students had already learned about this so I needed to get caught up. I didn't know what the history teacher was like, I assumed he was average because I hadn't heard anything about him yet, but just in case he was a strict teacher it was best to learn what I could.

Hermione had given me a list of things that they had studied in History of magic, and this was the first thing on it.

I sat down in a comfy chair in one of the more comfortable corners of the library. There was a clock beside me so I could keep an eye on the time. The library was well lit with golden candles, and it was easy to fall into the book and enjoy reading it. I took notes, even though they were unnecessary. I had a picture perfect memory, but I figured I would look odd unless I made it look like I was struggling a little bit with the learning.

Eventually it got to be eight o'clock. I packed up my bag and grabbed a couple of other books to take back with me to the common room. I doubted I would be doing any reading, though, days of little sleep were catching up to me and I was exhausted.

I got back and went over to Fred and George, holding out three galleons I said, "I'm going to need thirty exploding pens."

George pulled out a package and said, "You starting phase two of the plan tonight?"

"They trust Harry, now all I have to do is seal that trust by embarrassing Umbridge. Besides, according to Kisuke, Umbridge's first class tomorrow is first years. You know how gullible they are, they'll blow the story way out of proportion and make it all the more effective."

Handing me the quills Fred said, "That makes sense. So, the way these things work is pretty simple. You pull the cap off of the quill, and after that you have thirty seconds to get it placed. After those thirty seconds, the quill will explode whenever someone touches it. The ones with the blue cap will make a really lout cracking noise, the ones with the red cap will cover the person who touched it in soot."

I nodded, "Thanks."

The held out their hands and I shook them with an eye roll.

"Let the fun-"

"-begin!"

After that I went back up to my room and stowed all my stuff in the trunk before climbing into the big four poster bed and pulling the curtains shut.

Turning to Hyorinmaru I said, _You'll wake me up when it's time to go?_

_**Of course, Master. Sleep. Tonight will be fun.**_

I grinned, and the image of Umbridge grabbing a pen that exploded and covered her in soot filled my mind.

Maybe this mission wasn't going to be so bad after all.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I hope this chapter helps make up for my previous very slow updating. I'm in a bit of a lull right now where I'm not doing anything, so assuming that I don't end up working next week or something then I should have time to write more.**

**On a lighter note, I went to see the last Harry Potter movie yesterday, and I can honestly say it's one of my favourite ones. It was really, really good. They did the entire Hogwarts battle so well.**

**Anyways, I'll stop babbling. Enjoy the story, and don't forget to leave a review on the way out.**

**Chapter Seventeen- Fun, Games, and Hollowfied Ghosts**

**Hitsugaya POV**

It was dark out when Hyorinmaru woke me up, and when I asked him what time it was he said three o'clock. Perfect. Three o'clock was the dead time when human were the most tired and the least conscious. I would be less likely to get caught if I acted in the next hour than if I acted at midnight, or five in the morning.

I climbed out of bed and silently changed back into my shihakusho. I had a feeling that I might be doing some running and hiding tonight, and if I tried to use shunpo in my pyjamas or my regular clothes I had a feeling they wouldn't be able to survive the condensed reiatsu one used to power oneself forwards with shunpo.

And streaking wasn't on my list of pranks tonight.

I went down the stairs and out into the hallway. A sleepy portrait glared at me, a look of irritation on her face for being woken up. I ignored her and kept walking, I only pushed the door open. She didn't have to wake up and demand where I was going, she could have stayed asleep. Soon I was creeping down the hall to Umbridge's classroom.

I nearly stopped dead when a group of ghosts surrounded me, "Ano . . . hello?" I said.

One man, he appeared to have been nearly decapitated, said, "I am Sir. Nicolas."

I decided that I would just let them get what they were saying out in their own time, since they were obviously terrified. "Hitsugaya Toushiro," I responded, "It's nice to meet you." I was as pleasant as possible, noting that they had no soul chains. They obviously weren't normal ghosts and I wouldn't be able to send them on using konso.

The man relaxed a little bit and began speaking, he was obviously the spokesperson for the group. "Well, I'm sure you've noticed we're a little on the dead side."

I shrugged, "As am I, so that doesn't particularly bother me. May I ask why you're still here, and why your soul chains are gone?"

A woman spoke this time, "That would be why we wanted to talk to you. You see, as the ghosts of wizards we are given the option of moving on to Avalon- your Soul Society- or staying here. If we chose to stay here then our chains of fate are removed so we can't become hollows."

I frowned, "But your chains of fate are what anchor you to the world, if they're gone . . ." I trailed off.

Another man spoke this time, "Well, it's a situation that leaves much to be desired." He walked over and stuck his hand through a wall, "We're here, but we're not here if you get my meaning."

I nodded.

Sir Nicolas took over and continued speaking again, "The last one of your kind we had here tried to perform something called a konso on us, kept trying to jab us with his sword. We were afraid that if you saw us you might try to do the same thing, so we figured that we'd stay hidden until you were alone. When we felt you come out tonight we figured it would be a good time for all of us together and have a chat with you."

"Well, almost all of us," a plump woman with bushy red hair sniped, "The bloody baron can't leave his dungeons anymore, poor lad, keeps wailing on about how his chains are getting too tight."

I froze, "Ano . . . did you say chains?"

They all froze, "Well," one of them tittered nervously, "Not normal chains of fate. It's just one big one that's wrapped around him and his little dungeon. He's been here for years, though, I doubt he'll ever go hollow on us."

_**Great, this castle comes with an earthbound spirit. Fun.**_

_There goes the rest of my night's sleep._

"Is there by any chance this bloody baron is _not _a wizard?" I asked hesitantly, although I was pretty positive I already knew the answer. Now that I knew he was in the castle I searched for his reiatsu. I could barely feel it through all the magical reiatsu in the air, which explains why I didn't notice him earlier.

The wizard ghosts were odd, though, they had no reiatsu at all. They really were telling the truth when they said that they were here but not here.

One woman spoke up, "He was the man the castle belonged to before it turned into Hogwarts. We all assumed was a wizard since this is Hogwarts, but now that you mention it, none of us are really sure."

I let out a low groan, "He's not a wizard. I can feel his reiatsu right now, he's an earthbound spirit. Tied to one location with chains. Damn. I know you're opposed to the idea, but I really, really, _really _need to perform a konso on him. He is so close to going hollow that it's not even funny."

They all shared a look, "We'll ask Dumbledore what he thinks tomorrow, okay? If he says yes, we'll let you know and you can perform a konso. We're not sure what effect such a ritual would have on the school."

I should have until tomorrow, it wasn't that close to becoming a hollow yet. I should be fine for right now.

I nodded, "Fine. But please ask him soon, I don't want a hollow in a school full of children."

They all nodded and drifted off, and soon I was left standing alone in the hallway, "Baka." I hissed under my breath, "The fact that they're even contemplating leaving an earthbound spirit about to turn hollow in a school of children with high reiatsu is insane. If he turns he'll go on a rampage and kill everyone on sight."

I shook my head and continued walking to Umbridge's office. One problem at a time. Right now I had to go torture a toad. I would perform the konso tomorrow night, whether the ghosts gave me a go ahead or not. Sending people to the afterlife is my job, not theirs, and they don't get to dictate how I do it.

Breaking into Umbridge's classroom was deliriously easy. The door was locked and protected magically, but the window wasn't. I just climbed out the nearest window I could find and went in through the office window behind her classroom.

Umbridge's office was a terrifying place, it was covered in cats, pink and lace. The cat's all had abnormally large eyes that followed you wherever you went, and it was all the creepier because they were obviously muggle-made, meaning that they weren't actually looking at me. Not to mention there was an actual dark aura about the place, similar to the feeling I got around the horucrux. I frowned and opened a drawer in her desk. There was a pen sitting there, and there were traces of dark reiatsu and blood on it.

_**That thing, whatever the hell it is, will have to go. Right now. I don't know what it is, but it's evil.**_

_Agreed. _

I quickly swapped ever quill in both the office and the classroom that I could find, even the ones laying in corners or forgotten by students. Because I still had some left I hid some in her seat cushions, trash bins and other places she would accidently touch. Soon I was done. I grabbed the disgusting blood pen from her desk, and for good measure I left a note.

_Dark objects have no place in a school of children._

_Don't let me see any more of them._

_-X_

Now Umbridge would know that 'X' was in her office, and she would undoubtedly blame everything on him and do her best to catch him. Giving her a character to put the blame on would ensure that she wouldn't just brush it off. She would try and find him even if it was the last thing she did.

And if I were to play a series of pranks all blamed on 'x' . . . well, she'll be doing her best to make sure I rot in hell somewhere. If given an enemy, some people such as Dolores Umbridge will concentrate only on that enemy, which leaves a lot of fun openings for other people. And she would probably put all her resources into catching them too.

I wished her luck with that.

With that I hurried back to the dormitory, going outside and then climbing through the window in the Gryffindor tower and going to bed.

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**Third Person POV**

Hitsugaya had not been the only person out and about. A group of first years from all the houses had also snuck out, their purpose to see which house was the best and bravest. They met outside the Great Hall, looking about them with nervous looks. Soon after the Raveclaws and the Hufflepuffs left, the Slytherins and the Gryffindors were getting far too competive for their liking.

"Gryffindors are obviously the bravest," one girl said boldly, "It's the requirement for our house! What's Slytherin's requirement? Being a lying, cheating-"

"Not true!" one boy yelled, "Have you seen our dorms? They're in the dungeons! We wake up in the morning and see shackles hanging off the walls!" he might have been exaggerating a little, but he didn't particularly care anymore.

"So? No one tells you you have to keep them there!" the girl yelled back. They were being quite loud, but luckily the great hall was far away from where the teachers and Filch were patrolling.

"Well we have to! They're all attached to the bloody baron! If we just ripped them off we'd hurt him!" the boy said exasperatedly.

The girl froze, although it was unsure whether she froze because she didn't know who the bloody baron was, or because a Slytherin student had just demonstrated that he actually cared about someone else. She stopped arguing and hesitantly said, "Well . . . we could go and talk to him and see if there's any way to get the chains off."

The boy looked at his feet, "It'll be hard, he just keeps, you know, wailing."

The girl shrugged, "But we should try . . . right?"

"Right."

The two of them set off quietly towards the Slythering dorms, the boy stopped, "Wait here five seconds, you can't go in dressed like a Gryffindor. Suzie left her cloak in the common room, I'll go grab it."

The boy returned a few seconds later with the formerly mentioned cloak, the girl pulled it on quickly and he said, "My name's Sammy, by the way."

The girl nodded, "Mine's Jane."

The two of them crept into the common room, looking cautiously around each other. There was no one about. The Slytherin dorm- unlike the Gryffindor dorm- was not built around a solid room. It was a series of hallways and tunnels and secret passages, something quite akin to a maze. People got lost all the time there. As soon as she walked in the girl saw the silver chains wrapping around the walls and going through them.

"They've put a silencing charm on the room he's in," the boy said, "That's why you can't hear him. When we got in after the feast on the first night he was so loud he seemed to shake the walls. The older kids were all really shocked because he wasn't nearly this bad last year."

The girl nodded, "Which way?"

The boy pointed, "Down this hall. We'll have to be quiet, though, the prefects have decided to take turns camping out in the halls so that no one gets near the baron."

"Is he dangerous?"

"No. At least, I don't think so. He's more sad than scary." The boy looked around, "I would be too, imagine being stuck down here your entire life. Don't get me wrong, I love my house, but I wouldn't want to spend years here."

Jane nodded, "This place is rather gloomy."

"What're the Gryffindor dorms like?"

"They're in a tower, the common room has a fireplace and a bunch of couches. Then you go up stairs to get to your dorms. The higher up you go in the towers the older the students staying in the rooms are. And if boys try to get into the girl's dorms the stairs turn into slides." She giggled at the last bit, "It's nice and cheery, but really, really loud."

"Sounds nice." The boy said wistfully, "But oh well. Besides, I won't be here long. One day I'm going to be the Minister of Magic!"

The two of them crept through several sets of doors, they noticed that once they went through they could no longer hear the noses that were coming from the room before, "Do all of the rooms have silencing spells?" the girl whispered.

The boy nodded, "That way if one door gets opened then you still won't be able to hear the baron. You don't have to whisper anymore."

The girl nodded, "Okay."

They went into the final room and the girl gasped at the sudden onslaught of noise, the ghost in the center of the room was screaming in agony, chained to the wall in the back of the room, "Oh God." She whispered, looking at him, "That's horrible."

The boy nodded, his eyes wide, "I- I hadn't seen it yet. The prefects told us not to look once they saw it. I can see why, it's horrible."

The girl nodded, "Excuse me?" she asked the bloody baron, "Excuse me, Mr. Baron?"

He continued screaming, she could barely be heard over the din. She walked over and hesitantly touched his shoulder.

He fell silent instantly, his breathing coming in harsh gasps, he tried to speak, "Leave now, chains . . . off . . . center. . . hurts . . . stuck . . . go!"

She paused, "Pardon?"

"Leave!"

She frowned, "But they're almost off in the center, see?" she pointed to his chest, where the chains were attached only by one tiny corner of the hexagon, "I'm sure the pain would stop if we just got rid of them quickly, like ripping off a band aid."

He looked at her and let out a brief scream, "NO! LEAVE!"

"Do you want to be in pain? Let us help you, we know what we're doing." Sammy said, walking up to stand beside Jane.

The ghost let out another scream, "NO!"

"BUT WE CAN MAKE IT STOP!" Jane yelled desperately over the scream, "WE KNOW WHAT WE'RE DOING, WE PROMISE, LET US HELP YOU!"

He fell silent again, "You know what you're doing?" he choked out, looking as if he was barely able to get the words out over the pain.

Jane figured that since he was a ghost, he should probably be moving on, so she said, "Yep. You need to move on."

His eyes got a desperate hope, "Move on? You're a . . . Shinigami?"

She figured that meant wizard, so she said yes.

"Do what you need to." He managed to choke out.

The two of them nodded, and reaching forwards they both put their hands on the chain, "One . . .two . . . three . . . pull!" they both grabbed and yanked, and it came off with a loud rip. Jane gagged at the noise, and winced as a small amount of blood came out.

Then the ghost began screaming even more, he no longer looked at them with pain and sadness, now he looked at them hungrily. They backed away, but they were too slow. The ghost let out one final, screech of agony before it exploded. They both thought that was the end of it, but when it finally stilled it was a white pile of what they would describe as melted plastic- shiny, but still bendy.

And then it lifted its head, revealing a hole in its chest and a red and black mask that covered it's face.

Jane screamed.

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**Hitsugaya POV**

I sat bolt upright in my bed, that reiatsu was most definitely that of a hollow. All the other students slept peacefully in their beds, they didn't yet have spiritual pressure high enough to feel the huge boom of energy. I did, though, and I knew exactly what it meant. I turned, grabbed Hyorinmaru and ran down into the common room. I was lucky I had decided to just collapse into bed without changing out of my Shihakusho.

As soon as I got into the common room I paused to check to see where it was; in the Slytherin dungeons. Great, getting in there was going to be interesting. It's underground, so I can't go in through any windows, and the door is most likely hidden like Gryffindor's door is. Normally I would just search for the spiritual pressure of the door, which is virtually guaranteed to be guarded with magic, but in this castle it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Damn. What do I do?

I had another split second idea, I ran back up into the dorms completely silently, and then pulled to Marauder's map out of Harry's trunks, and then I found Severus Snape's dot. Yoruichi and Kisuke were still in their rooms, but their rooms were on the way to Snape's office. Snape's office was outside the dungeons. I jumped out the window again, and fell down to the first floor.

Going down the hallway using shunpo and not particularly caring if I was seen meant it took me only milliseconds to get to the rooms Yoruichi and Urahara were staying in. I banged on the door and it was opened immediately by them, "Nice reaction time, Hitsu-chan." Said Urahara.

"C'mon," I said, "We need to go get Snape. It's in the Slytherin dungeons, and we can't get in without him."

They nodded and we all took off towards Snape's rooms. I'll admit, we probably shouldn't have barged into his room. But we wouldn't have done it if he had opened the door like he was supposed to when we knocked.

The man sat bolt upright in bed, his wand pointed at us. The spell was halfway out of his mouth when he realised it was us. He put it away with a sneer on his face, "Tell me, do people know how to knock where you come from?"

Urahara got that look on his face again, and he said, "To tell you the truth, we normally just jump through windows."

Harsh, yet completely true.

"Yes, well thank God you didn't do that. What is the meaning of this splendid late night visit."

"A hollow appeared in your Slytherin dungeon a minute and forty seconds ago." I informed him, "We need you to let us in so that we can exorcise it."

He nodded, climbing out of bed. Yoruichi grinned at him, and said, "I know a quicker way."

That poor man.

She grabbed him and threw him over her shoulder, taking off down the hall with me and Urahara close behind her, she dumped him unceremoniously in front of a pair of doors. "It's alright, Snape." I told him innocently, "She does that to everyone. At least she hasn't flashed you yet."

Snape ignored me and opened the doors, looking around he said, "I don't see anything out of order here."

"That's because wizards can't sense reiatsu." I snarled, "Urahara, Shihoin, can I trust you to keep the student body occupied while I deal with it? I'll sneak out after I'm done."

"Leave it to us, Hitsu-chan." I nodded and took off running towards the hollow. It took me only a few brief seconds to find the doors he had hidden behind. I opened them and walked in, quickly closing them behind me. All that was revealed was an empty room with another door. I rolled my eyes at the oddness of wizards and kept running, going through three more sets of doors before I found the room I wanted.

There was one girl laying in a corner, she wasn't moving. It looked as if she had been thrown into a wall and knocked unconscious. The hollow had another kid in his hand, he squeezed and the child let out a scream of agony. I swore and reacted immediately, launching forewords and chopping the hand that held the boy off with one swing. Without even changing the direction on my momentum I flew over its head and cleaved it in two from behind.

The boy had rolled out of its hand and was trying to crawl backwards. From the looks of it, though, he wasn't having very much success with it. The hollow must have crushed several of his bones and organs. He wasn't a Shinigami, his body wasn't made to take this kind of strain. If he continued struggling like this then there was a chance that he could do more damage.

I returned Hyorinmaru to his sealed form, the boy tried to run away from me. Great, he thought I was some kind of demon. I sighed, "I'm obviously not going to hurt you. I would have just let the hollow kill you if I were."

He sent me a wide eyed look.

I continued talking, "You need to stay still right now while I heal the damages in your body. Can you do that while I go check on your friend?"

He nodded, and I turned and walked away. It was a good thing I had the tube of memory modification dust in my pocket. And it was also a good thing that the boy was in too much shock to start asking annoying questions I wouldn't answer.

I walked over and checked the girl, making sure that there were no spinal injuries and that it was alright to move her. Once I was certain it was I picked her up and carried her over to the boy, laying her down beside him. He had slipped into unconsciousness too, but given the amount of pain he must be in that was probably a good thing for him.

The boy was in more serious shape, so I started with him. I was by no means an expert at healing kido, but I could do it skilfully enough to stabilize the children before taking them to the hospital wing. I could also do more, but it would take me hours.

Eventually I had patched up enough of the damaged tissue that his breathing was no longer laboured and he didn't look like he was about to keel over dead. I fixed the girl up even quicker, it was just a case of dealing with some bruising in the brain. Finally I reached into my pocket and pulled out the memory dust. Instead of using the dispenser to shoot it out into the air I knocked some of the powder into my hand before unceremoniously pouring it into the student's mouths. They would wake up thinking this was all just a dream, and I would instruct whoever patched them up to tell them they just fainted in the hallway.

Everyone wins. They're not scarred for life, and I don't have to create a cover story.

I debated how I was going to carry them, though. Frankly, given their injuries just tossing them over my shoulder was probably not the best thing to do for their injuries.

_**I'll come and help.**_

'_Kay._

I closed my eyes and Hyorinmaru shimmered into existence behind me, picking up the girl. I grabbed the boy and the two of us crept out of the common room. Yoruichi, Snape, and Urahara waited a few seconds and then followed me out.

Urahara and Yoruichi looked at Hyorinmaru, "Interesting. The bond you two have is quite strong for a Shinigami and Zanpkuto, I knew that already. But to materialize so easily, I'm envious."

I shrugged, "It' probably because we met when I was so young."

I highly doubt that, I believe it has something to do with that incident at Gringotts. I can't really do anything about it, though, so for now I'll just ignore. I'll see if I can go train over the Christmas holidays. Until then, though, I'm too busy to do so.

Snape looked at Hyorinmaru, "While you are all in the know, I am not. Who is that, and what happened to my students?"

Urahara chuckled, "The bloody baron turned into a hollow, a monster. If I had to guess it is because these two children tried to help him by taking off his spirit chains. Of course, the spirit chains not only bound him to the wall, but they held him together too. Once taken off . . . well, there's no going back from there. We could all feel it once he underwent the change, Hitsu-chan felt it first, so he came and grabbed all of us so he could get into the common room. Then we were there in case the fight broke outside of the soundproof rooms and the students noticed. My guess is he killed the hollow, then materialized Hyorinmaru to help him carry the kids. That about right, Hitsu-chan?"

I nodded, "Pretty much."

"Is there a chance the other ghosts in the castle will turn into hollows?" asked Snape.

I shook my head, "No. The bloody baron was the only human spirit. All the other ghosts are wizards, so there's no risk for them."

"Wizards are humans."

"Not by our standards. Humans are virtually powerless spirits with no ability to manipulate reiatsu. Wizards can manipulate reiatsu, and therefore you are another race altogether to us. By your standards, everyone would be human, and that would be too damn confusing." I replied instantly.

"So there are more races like us?"

"In our little subdivision of human-like species there are humans, Quincy, Shinigami, Zanpakuto, Hollow, Vaizard, Arrancar, Bounto, there are really quite a few." I said with a shrug. We reached the hospital wing and explained what had happened to Madame Pomfrey. She insisted on checking me over, I insisted I was fine. I was about to just turn and walk away when Kisuke said, "Bakudo four, Geki." I stiffened. Normally I would be able to easily break out of such a kido, but this one was different.

Bakudo four, my ass. That was Bakudo Seventy-seven. The fact that Kisuke could cast such a high level spell without even saying the proper name was impressive, but I would expect nothing less from the former Captain of Squad Twelve.

"Kisuke, that is not Bakudo four." I managed to grate out.

He shrugged innocently, and I glared at him.

Ice travelled over the reiatsu and Kisuke went, "Oh ho- I forgot binding spells were useless against you, Hitsu-chan. Still, you should let the nice lady check you over. You'll worry her, and we are guest here."

I glared and sat down. The woman placed the tip of her wand on my forehead and I could feel the spell's reiatsu travelling over my body, checking for injuries. I shuddered, the spell was rather uncomfortable. I was going to complain, but I looked at the woman and saw a look so similar to Unohana's that I decided to keep my mouth shut. Unohana used her reiatsu to do the same thing, but when I complained to her she just knocked me unconscious and kept going.

Glancing over I saw Hyorinmaru leaning against the wall, "Shouldn't you be getting checked too?" I asked him icily.

In a tone that matched my own he said, "I am not a child- unlike you."

"You're just as old as I am. Unless you were somehow born into my mind before I existed."

"Still, I'm intelligent enough to know how to get out of a situation. You should have just given the kids to the others and made a dash for it."

"You could have told me that then."

"I wanted you to have a good learning experience." He said innocently.

"Sure you did." I said sarcastically.

Madame Pomfrey chose that moment to say, "There you go dear, you're all done."

"Thanks, Madame Pomfrey." I told her politely. Hyorinmaru shimmered and dissolved back into bracelet form, returning to my mind. I backed out of the room, with the others following me.

Yoruichi looked up, "Umbridge is coming."

"I'll take my leave then." I said, "Have fun with the toad."

With that I flash stepped out of the nearest window. I heard Snape say, "Erm . . .did he just jump out a window?"

Yoruichi said, "Don't worry about it. We told you earlier, windows are like doors for us."

I got back to the Gryffindor common room. I still had several hours until morning, and I figured that I nothing else was going to be happening tonight, so I might as well get some sleep. I got changed back into my pyjamas and crawled into bed, closing my eyes and falling asleep quickly.

I was tired, and I would probably eat a lot in the morning. The combination of shunpo, killing that hollow, materializing Hyorinmaru and breaking that kido spell meant that I had burned a lot of reiatsu. Mostly it was the kido spell, everything else took barely any energy. Oh well, I'll find a way to get Kisuke back for that.

Or I'll try, anyways, that man had some skills, I could give him that.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Alright, so here is the next Chapter. I was looking forwards to writing the first kido class, so I hope you can agree with the way I did it. In other news, is anyone keeping up with the Bleach manga? *SPOILER ALERT IF YOU AREN'T UP TO DATE WITH THE MANGA* I actually started cheering when Ichigo's dad was like 'you should be able to see them now', and then Rukia was there. And the filler arc that's going on right now in the anime is actually pretty good.**

**Chapter Seventeen- Kido With Urahara-Sensei (also called 'A Disaster Waiting to Happen')**

**Hitsugaya POV**

The day I woke up, got dressed and went to breakfast just like I normally would. On the way there I stopped off at Kisuke and Shihoin's room, the two of them were up and had left long before I go there. I sighed and headed over to their classroom.

The two of them were setting up practice dummies for the class, I frowned at them, "Aren't you doing theory and meditation for the first week?"

Urahara nodded, "Good morning, Hitsu-chan. And this is for demonstrations."

I smirked, "Trying to bait them so they'll put up with two weeks of boring work?"

Urahara smirked, "That would be the idea. I assume there's another reason for your visit, Hitsu-chan. What is it?"

"Have you told Dumbledore about last night, or should I go do it?" I asked.

"Snape says he'll do it." Yoruichi said, speaking for the first time. She had been wrestling with a manikin on the other side of the room, but had finished and come over to us.

"You're trusting him with that?" I said incredulously, "I highly doubt he'll give an accurate retelling of what happened."

Yoruichi shrugged, "No, he won't. But Umbridge has been practically stalking us since she ran into us last night- nothing much happened, and we told her that the two students had fainted in the halls- and you can't because right now you're under the guise of a student. We'll have to trust him on this."

I nodded, and Yoruichi said, "Shouldn't you be getting to breakfast? Your friends will wonder where you went."

I nodded, "See you later, Urahara, Shihoin."

"See you later, Hitsu-chan."

I stopped and slowly turned around, "And while it understandable for you to call me that right now since we're undercover, if you _ever _call me Hitsu-chan in the Soul Society you'll both be personally experiencing how it feels to be frozen solid from the inside out."

Urahara just waved, "See ya later_, Hitsu-chan_!"

I threw my arms into the air and exasperatedly stormed out of the room. There was no reasoning with these two, I swear.

I got down to breakfast and started eating. No one paid much attention to how I was late, I told them I was still having a hard time getting used to the time changes and getting awake on time and they had nodded understandingly. We were handed the schedules, and I was torn between laughing and crying when I saw mine.

I had double kido first thing.

Double Kido with _Slytherin_.

This was either going to be highly entertaining and fun to watch, or I would be so senselessly bored that I would fall asleep. I hoped Urahara wouldn't start picking on me, the last thing I have to do is attract attention to myself because I lost my temper and I'm beating on a grown man who's supposed to be my teacher.

_**Just in case, though, you might want to grab some memory modification dust when you go to the dorms to grab your books.**_

_I believe I shall, although the fact that I'm even having to consider doing so is slightly disconcerting._

_**Better safe than sorry, you know we should take all necessary precautions against getting caught.**_

_In that case, we should murder Urahara and Shihoin, because if anyone is going to get us caught then it'll be them._

My next classes were all fairly average, and consisted of charms, transfiguration and potions. Well, as average as any of the classes in Hogwarts could get.

I headed back up to the dorms to grab my books, pausing momentarily to pull a first year out of one of the vanishing steps. Honestly, vanishing steps? Those could kill someone. What if it disappeared on the top floor of the castle? Wizards may be able to do a lot, but I highly doubt that they can just kick up their heels and fly. Particularly when they're still in shock that the supposedly solid stair they had just put their weight on had vanished from underneath them.

I managed to dig out the memory dust from in my suitcase. I would have to get Kurotsuchi to send me a backup one, I only had three doses left, and that wouldn't be enough if something big happened. Maybe Kisuke can make me some, he invented it after all, and I kind of trust him more than Kurotsuchi. I wonder if it's bad that I trust the exiled Captain more than the current Captain? If it were anyone else, I would say that it probably is, but with those two I think we can all agree Kurotsuchi should have been the one exiled, not Urahara.

I realised that, what with the staircase thing, I was probably going to be late. I hurriedly grabbed my bag and took off sprinting down the halls. If I arrived late, I get the feeling Kisuke would string me up by the ankles for fun. I would kill him later, but he would know I wouldn't really be able to do anything it until all the children were gone. And he wasn't above making sure there were always children around so I could never kill him.

As soon as I was sure that there was no one left in the halls I took a few jumps of shunpo. I got to the staircase, which was completely deserted. As soon as I was sure that there was no one around I jumped over the railing and did a free fall to the bottom before landing silently and taking off down the hall. I got to the classroom with seconds to spare. Urahara smirked at me as I walked through the door, looking perfectly composed as I did so.

"Close the door behind you, Hitsu-chan."

"Hai." I did so, and the class fell silent.

He walked up to the front, Yoruichi sitting on his shoulder. She was in cat form right now, and the only students who knew that the cat was 'Professor Shihoin' were those who were at the order. And they weren't talking right now, they just sat there with anticipatory smirks on their faces. All the students looked a little confused about what they were supposed to do. There were no desks in the classroom, just a pile of mats in the corner. I grabbed one and sat on it, the other students following suite.

Urahara pulled a chalkboard out in front of the sitting students, "Welcome to Kido." He said cheerfully, "I want you to put your bags, wands and everything in that back room there. This is a practical course, there will be no notes, no written tests. Your final exam will be practical only."

I did as he told us, a smirk on my face. Soon everyone was sitting back down, and Hermione put up her hand, "Sir, how are we supposed to learn the spells if we can't write them down?"

Urahara smiled, "Memory of course, and you'll have access to this classroom whenever you want. Feel free to ask either of us questions anywhere or anytime. I'll admit, we do things differently where we come from- it's all one on one learning, and that's a safety measure. I'll tell you right now, Kido can be very, very dangerous if done improperly. I know your two houses do not get along, however, if I see any of you using it against each other before I give you the all clear, I will kick you out of this class and seal your powers so you can never perform kido again. I ask that if you want to practice you get either me, Shihoin or Hitsu-chan to come supervise so that you don't hurt yourselves. I am aware that normally he is your peer, but in this class Hitsu-chan is a teacher."

When he said that I happily tossed my mat into a corner and went to go stand behind him, Shihoin jumped onto my shoulder.

Urahara, "Where we come from, it is not age, but skill that determines what class and grade you're in. Those who are above you in that class have the ability to order you around. For example, I am equal to Shihoin, and we can order Hitsu-chan around. Hitsu-chan is equal to only himself, and can order you around. You are all equals and cannot order each other around. Things are done this way for safety, so that there are more people who can teach you around."

Some of the Slytherins scoffed at this, and I rolled my eyes at them, really not caring.

Urahara grinned, "You're allowed to talk back in here to teachers, you're allowed to be rude. But you have to be able to back it up. Those are the rules to this class, but that's not really what you're here for. You're here for the kido."

He pulled out a piece of chalk and wrote four words on the board, "Kido," he read outloud, "Zanjutsu, Hoho, and Hakuda. These are the four categories that Japanese wizards use. They are all combat areas, although kido has some practical uses as well, and they can be combined and interwoven. You will only be learning Kido." He slashed out the other three with his piece of chalk, "Kido is a wandless magic that can be divided into three parts. It is known as the demon arts, or death god arts. And for a good reason. If done improperly it can tear the fabric of your very soul."

He drew three arrows from the word Kido, "The first section has no name, no system. It is simply where you donate your energy to a fallen comrade to heal them. We call this healing, obviously. The second area is defensive magic- called bakudo, or way of binding. This is what you will be learning. The final area is attack. You will not ever attempt this area. It is used for killing only, and none of you ever want to do that."

Everyone nodded, and Urahara said, "Now, Kido is preformed using something called reiatsu. It is the amount of spiritual pressure your soul creates. Your wands generate reiatsu from the spirits of the objects contained within them, that is how you generate magic. In order to perform kido you will need to learn to generate that energy on your own, without the help of those objects."

Hermione held up her hand, "How will we be able to tell when we have enough?"

Urahara nodded, "Good question. Reiatsu is something you can sense, it's personal for every wizard, with different flavours and temperatures. You can hold it in so others cannot sense it, or be affected by it. Right now, all three of the Japanese wizards in your school including myself are doing so."

Malfoy said, "Why would you do that? We're supposed to be your allies-"

Urahara chuckled, "Because it's only polite. We all have abnormally high levels of reiatsu, even for wizards. That's part of the reasons why me and Professor Shihoin are teachers, and Hitsu-chan is a child prodigy. Our combined energies would turn you and your school to rubble, and it would shatter your souls."

Malfoy scoffed, and Urahara continued, "Anyways, I will get Hitsu-chan to release some of his reiatsu so that you can feel it." He passed out slips of paper, "He will release it gradually. I want you to all put up your hands when you feel something, and write on this paper what you feel. His is one of the most noticeable here, special even back home because unlike most reiatsu it also has a physical form. You wouldn't notice mine until it brought the school down around your ears. Hitsu-chan? Take it away."

I did so, spreading my reiatsu around the room and gradually increasing the concentration of it. Unsurprisingly, Hermione was the first to put up her hand. Then Malfoy. Then Harry. Then Ron. It continued as such, eventually the temperature in the room dropped so much it became impossible for even the most idiotic human not to notice. Eventually everyone's hand was up and I stopped.

Urahara nodded, "Excellent. Everyone write your names on the papers. I won't tell anyone else when or what you noticed, I just want to see what exactly you wrote." Everyone did that and handed them to him.

Malfoy scoffed again, "Powerful? My ass. It was just like a freezer."

I smiled innocently and released a little more reiatsu, everyone froze, but the brunt of it was directed at Malfoy. He flew back about ten feet into a mound of cushions, "Remember rule number one," I drawled, "You have to be able to back it up."

And then I lifted the reiatsu and the pressure was gone.

Urahara chuckled, "Now, Kido is a set of numbered spells from one to fifty. One being the weakest spells, and fifty being the most powerful. In order to perform the spell you must know it's name, number and incantation. Once you learn those and become a master at the spells, you can cut out the incantation, number and finally name. However, if you attempt that before you're ready you'll blow yourself up, so don't try it at home."

Everyone nodded, "To let you all get a chance to see what it does, I'll demonstrate each category. Even though you will only be learning one of them it is best if you know what they all look like so you can recognize them. First off is healing, anyone have a cut on their hand?" Everyone looked around, and eventually Ron shrugged, holding up his hand.

"Everyone gather round," Urahara said, he took Ron's hand and an eerie green filled the classroom, as he healed Ron Urahara explained, "Kido works on anything physical, restoring their energy and kicking the body into high gear while it feeds off of you. It will get rid of sickness, and injuries."

He stopped and Ron went back a grin on his face, "Y'know, I feel really good right now. Like I just had a good night's sleep and a good breakfast."

Urahara nodded happily, "As is the way it should be. Now, next up I will show you a bakudo-a binding spell. This is what you will be learning. I was originally going to try demonstrating on Hitsu-chan, but he told me if I even tried such a thing he would kill me."

Everyone laughed nervously and I rolled my eyes, "He's joking. He never asked me that."

Urahara got an evil grin, "Bakudo four, Hainewa!" a golden rope was shot towards me, I rolled sideways and narrowly avoided it, "And I never asked him because I knew what his response would be. It's no fun if you just stand there, ne, Hitsu-chan?"

"Hasn't anyone ever told you shooting surprise attacks at your students is more than a little rude." I glared at him.

Everyone stared and Yoruichi spoke for the first time, walking over to them easily, "Relax, children. Kisuke has already told you that kind of talk is allowed if you can back it up. Compared to some of the others in our old school, Hitsu-chan is one of the most self controlled. Others who I won't name would have shot a destructive spell at him."

"Y-you can talk?" asked a Slytherin girl.

"Of course." Shihoin answered easily, "Kisuke, toss me your coat." Kisuke pulled off his green coat and tossed it to her. Yoruichi began transforming and I immediately covered my eyes, "Hey kids." She said, "Histu-chan, stop looking away. I'm wearing clothes this time, I swear."

"That's what you said last time." I grumbled.

I may have pointedly covered up my eyes, and Kisuke said, "She is, I swear too."

"You're not a reliable source, either, Hermione, is she wearing anything?" I asked the calm girl who I hoped would tell the truth.

"Yes."

"Excellent." I took my hands off of my eyes, half expecting Yoruichi to be standing there stark nude. She wasn't, although Urahara's coat was barely what one would call decent.

Urahara sighed, "Since that spell obviously didn't hit home, I'll have to demonstrate on the manikin." He turned and said, "Bakudo four, Hainewa!" the golden rope appeared and the two manikins he aimed it at were tied together with a resounding crack. I winced, had that been two students they would have broken bones.

Kisuke turned to the class, "Binding spells consist of manipulating a person's reiatsu to wrap around their opponent and paralyze them." He grinned, "And now for the fun one. I will tell you neither the name, or the technique. Just watch, and recognize." He turned and the beam of blue light I had long since learned to recognize as Hado four, Byakyuri shot out of his finger, impaling the manikin and blowing a hole through it.

Kisuke turned to us and said, "Damage caused by a hado, a destructive spell, is virtually irreversible. Only healers who are very skilled in their art can heal such an injury because of the reiatsu in the wound. I have healed enough of such injuries in my time to tell you how difficult it is. Because of this, I ask that you do not ever attempt to learn such spells. There will be a time when your skill in kido is high enough that you will be able to attempt to imitate what I just did. Please don't attempt to do so, such spells will often backfire. If, you do attempt them and injure yourself, do not go to the hospital wing. Find me, Yoruichi or Hitsu-chan. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, "Excellent. And I believe- although it is a shame to end the class on such a dire note- that we are almost out of time."

Hermione held up her hand, "Erm . . . sir? It's a double period, we still have another hour."

Urahara grinned, "Oh! That's wonderful. Let's begin the first stage of training, then. Meditation! I know all you lot are going to be bored with this, but I ask you to concentrate. Meditation is essential to cultivating reiatsu. You are going to sit comfortably, and I will fill the room with my reiatsu. You are to concentrate on it, try to pull it in and control it. It is possible, but it will take you about a week to do so."

I frowned, if we were meditating I wonder if Urahara would object to me sneaking away and chatting with Hyorinmaru. Almost as if he read my mind, Urahara said, "Hitsu-chan, I assume you want to go do your own exercises?"

I nodded, "If you wouldn't mind."

He grinned, "There's a training room right down that trap door."

I froze, remembering the training room in his shop. "You didn't? Like the one back home?"

Urahara nodded, "You need somewhere to train properly, as will others if they come here. Go ahead."

He needed to give me no other instructions, soon I was standing and walking down the trap door. An hour wasn't really enough to do very much permanent stuff to learn a new technique. Learning new techniques took me days, sometimes weeks. That being said, I could still materialize Hyorinmaru and have a few good training bouts. Urahara's underground training room was several kilometres wide on all sides, I had often speculated that it wasn't a room at all, but another dimension he had created with the trap door.

I summoned Hyorinmaru, and the two of us sparred for a full fifty minutes. Nothing all that serious happened, it was just a light training to keep my skills up and running at full power. Despite that though, when one trains with live metal, one is bound to get injuries. By the end of it I was covered in cuts and bruises, and my clothing was more than a little destroyed. I swore, looking at myself.

How was I going to explain this?

Hyorinmaru chuckled as he de-materialized, and soon I felt his familiar presence in my mind.

_**Just don't? It's not like it really matters. **_

_Does the term 'undercover' mean anything to you?_

_**Tch. I hate to break it to you, fledgling, but you're horrid at undercover missions where you're allied with someone. You always have been, especially after the Kusaka incident. I don't know if you've noticed, kid, but after you split from the Gotei Thirteen for those few days and tried to hide the truth from them, you've never tried to hide the truth from anyone again. Ever. You 'slip up' and accidently let them know all the facts. You may be a child genius, youngest Captain ever, and one of the most intelligent people I've ever meant, but you're a horrible at lying. Not because you're incapable of it, I've seen you weave stories out of thin air before, but because of your honour. You become guilty when you lie to your comrades in battle, and after those feelings overwhelmed you last time you did it, you've never lied again.**_

I thought that over, and then sighed. It was true. I hated lying, I loathed it. Every time I did my mind would spin off in a dozen directions trying to make sure it wouldn't hurt anyone. And Hyorinmaru was right with the source, however, there were dozens more. Aizen lied to us all and hurt a lot of people, and I _refuse _to be anything at all like that bastard. I will not imitate Aizen. If he's going to get what he wants through lies and trickery, then I'm going to refuse to touch those methods. Then there was the way Gin lied to us. Also the way Central Forty-six lied to the entire world. The way Yamamoto lied and said he respected us all when I had seen him scold fallen warriors for forcing him out into battle. Even this mission, with the behaviour of the Ministry and Dumbledore, seemed to make me want to ignore anyone who got what they wanted from other people.

_I still can't blow my cover. Maybe I'll get lucky and they won't notice me._

I climbed out of the training room and back into the classroom, the students didn't even hear me when I came in. I snuck into the back room and grabbed my wand before climbing back downstairs. I cast a few quick spells to fix and clean my clothing, and then I cast a healing kido on all my other cuts, scrapes and bruises. It was possible to heal yourself; it just took a lot of effort.

Walking back into the classroom I went and sat patiently on the window sill. The bell showing the end of the period rang and everyone jumped about a foot into the air. I smiled slightly, at least they were trying. I waved good-bye to Kisuke and Yoruichi before walking out of the room with Ron, Harry and Hermione.

"So how did you like kido?" I asked them.

Ron grinned, "It was awesome, even if the meditating was a little boring. Urahara is an awesome teacher. Say, can you train kido with us tonight?"

I shook my head, "I could meditate with you. Not train, though, you don't have enough spirit pressure for that yet. You'd just end up blowing yourself up."

Hermione shrugged, "I'd do it. I want to get better faster. This is something new to me."

I nodded, "Tell me when and I'll come down."

Ron got a little bit of a nervous look on his face, "Does teachers from Japan always do things like that?"

"Like what?"

"Spring surprise attacks on their students?"

I thought about that.

. . .

_Kurosaki Ichigo ran for his life while Urahara chased him across the room, waving his sword and shooting of blasts with his shikai. Kurosaki had just wanted to learn how to control his reiatsu and perform basic kido to pay back Kuchiki, but Urahara had felt the need to teach him how to deal with shikai attacks._

. . .

_It was my first week in the Tenth Squad. People had said Captain Kurosaki liked to surprise the new recruits, but I had ignored them. That morning Isshine-Taicho had jumped through the window above my bed in the squad bunks._

"_GOOOOOOOOOD MORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNING NEEEEEEEEEEEEW RECRRRRRRRRRRRRUITS!" he bellowed, coming straight for me. I lunged at him instinctively, not realising who he was._

"_Good God!" I roared, throwing a punch that sent him flying into the wall, "Who the hell does sneak attacks at four in the fucking morning? Are you insa-" then I realised who he was, "Oh. Shit. Deepest apologies, Kurosaki-Taicho." I bowed to him and he stood up grinning._

"_No worries, I liked that response. Nice to see my new Squad members are in shape." He ruffled my hair before walking out of the room. _

_A few minutes later one could hear him shouting, "GOOOOOOOD MORRRRRNING SEEEEEEEEEEEEECOND YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAR RECRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUITS!"_

_. . ._

_Abarai Renjii had made the mistake of sleeping in Urahara's shop one night too long. Yoruichi Shihoin decided it was time for him to wake up and cook breakfast._

_By dropkicking him through three walls and a door into the kitchen._

_. . ._

_When the Vaizards had told Ichigo they would train him, I don't think he realised that they meant they would train him twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. I'll admit, I thought it was pretty funny when Shinjii jumped him- sword drawn and mask on- right as Kurosaki walked out of the shower._

_Kurosaki, he didn't think it was as funny._

_. . ._

_I had thought staying over at the Kurosaki's house when I was in on a short trip to Karakura town seemed like a good idea. Rukia was in the Soul Society, and the closet bed was free. I left the door open because every once and a while Kurosaki would ask something about the Soul Society and I got tired of opening and closing the door to respond._

_And then, at four in the morning, like a repeat of my worst nightmares, I heard, "GOOOOOD MORRRRRNING, ICHIGOOOOOOO!"_

. . .

I paused and thought over Ron's question, and then lied through my teeth, "Erm . . . not really."

Some things were better left unsaid.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: And here you all go. Thanks again for all the reviews, it's nice to know that you're actually all enjoying the story and I'm not just writing to myself. I apologize for the sporadic updates, I've been super busy lately, but I'll update again as soon as I can.**

**Chapter Eighteen- And the World Keeps on Spinning**

**Third Person POV**

Harry Potter had to admit that, out of all the wizards and witches he had seen last year at the Quidditch World Cup, the Japanese transfers would have won for strangest group. They acted on a set of morals that seemed totally their own, ignoring everyone and anyone who tried to stop them from doing so. The sheer, vast amount of power that they have was enough to make his head spin. Literally- every time Urahara tried to hit Hitsugaya with a binding spell, the white haired boy would release enough rieatsu to bring everyone in the class to their knees. He looked at Toshiro as one of his best friends, and yet, he knew the boy was hiding something.

It was more than just what had happened to his old school. Harry had a feeling that the boy had been telling half-truths with that story. Half-truths, full truths, the only good thing Harry saw about Hitsugaya Toshiro's secret keeping was that he never told a full out lie to his friends. He would stretch and bend the truth, but they could work with that since it was all still partially truthful.

It was about a month into the school year now, and Harry's suspicions about the transfers had only increased.

Urahara and Shihoin were odd enough as it was, but he was never really close enough to them to tell the differences.

Hitsugaya was a different matter altogether. Harry spent most of his time around the strange white haired boy, and he had noticed quite a lot about him (with the help of Hermione and Ron, of course). He appeared to be able to work longer in class than the rest of them, go with a little less sleep and a little less food, but that was hardly noticeable.

No, the first big thing Harry noticed was that about two or three nights a week, Hitsugaya would mysteriously vanish from his bed. Checking the Marauder's Map Harry could tell that the boy was sneaking around Umbridge's office, or classroom. He also moved too fast to be considered normal. The dot that he believed represented the boy (he couldn't really tell, his name was written in Japanese) moved so fast it was a blur on the page. Then there was the strange two-dot mystery, whenever Hitsugaya went off to train alone in Urahara's training room (it had just magically appeared on the map one day), he would split into two dots that would spin around each other with an alarming frequency.

Then there was his habit of talking to himself, suddenly yelling the occasional phrase such as 'Shut up!' or 'I know, I know!'. Harry figured it was probably Hyorinmaru he was talking to, but it was still odd enough to take note of.

There was also the fact that, no matter how hard he thought about their History of Magic's course and everything he'd learned about foreign wizards, Harry could not once remember anything being written about Japanese wizards.

And, added to that list of strangeness was the fact that the ghosts all seemed afraid of him, he used to walk around carrying a giant sword, he looked like he was eight but acted like he was eighty, he had white hair and strange blue eyes that almost seemed to glow every once and a while- like something was looking out of its depths. He was a master of manipulation- Harry knew exactly who was responsible for sending Umbridge over the edge.

All in all, Hitsugaya was weird, and he was up to something.

And Harry wanted in.

He went down to breakfast with Ron and Hermione, it was October and the air was begging to become crisp and cool. Leaves were falling around the school, and students could watch the annual show of Filtch running around trying to rake and sweep them all up. Hitsugaya had gone to Kisuke and Yoruichi's room, today they were actually going to be trying a spell and apparently they had a few things to get set up.

"Have either of you noticed anything . . . strange about the transfers?" asked Harry in a low voice.

Hermione shrugged, "Yes, but they're transfers, they're supposed to be weird."

Harry tried again, "I know, I know. It's just that I don't think they're here to learn our magic, or to find a new location for their old school. I think their old school is still standing, and that they're in contact with it."

Hermione shot him a look, "No one ever said anything about their school falling down."

"Hitsugaya did, back at Grimmauld Place." Said Harry.

Hermione's eyes narrowed, "I think it was a hint."

Harry and Ron both looked at her, and she continued, "Well, think of how Hitsugaya acts. Everything he says about his old school, about himself and Yoruichi and Urahara, is a hint. I think he wants us to figure it out, but he's been ordered not to tell us."

Ron frowned, "Either way, it doesn't matter. He ain't telling us anything."

"Still, we can try to figure it out. I know we can do it. They've given us a lot to work with. We'll meet in the common room tonight, right after Hitsugaya is asleep. I'll just stay up, and you two come down when you can grab the map and cloak and leave without him noticing. And be careful, he'll wake up at the slightest sound."

"How d'you know that?" asked Ron.

"He's got trigger hair reflexes, honestly, I don't know how you haven't noticed yet. He's just like Mad Eye Moody in that. Remember when Fred and George tried to jinx him that one time for fun? He had drawn his sword and had it at their throats before he even seemed to know what he was doing. Honestly, we're lucky Mrs. Weasly didn't see that." Hermione sniffed, "I've never seen anyone more like Moody."

Ron smirked, "Yeah, but Mad Eye has had years of people trying to kill him and of people fighting in wars."

Hermione sighed, "That's what bothers me. I think Hitsugaya has had years of that too. He's not normal, Harry, you're right. His old school was a battle school, and they're obviously trained for something. The only important thing is what they're trained for."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**Hitsugaya POV**

"Are we seriously letting the students use the underground training room?" I asked incredulously, "Why?"

Urahara shrugged, "There's more room there, so people are less likely to get hurt."

"True, but Umbridge might decide to come explore at an inopportune moment. Like, I dunno, if I'm in the middle of a fight with Hyorinmaru and about to use Hyoten Hyokkaso or something." My voice was snappish.

Urahara froze, "You actually learned that? I heard you two discussing it- it seemed complex."

Like hell he 'heard us talking about it'. He was spying on me again.

I shrugged, "Yeah."

He smiled, "Good, good."

I narrowed my eyes, "That's beside the point, though. Letting the students use the training room is insane."

"They already know that it's there. This will stop them from sneaking in and getting suspicious." He said easily, disassembling another manikin to take 'downstairs'.

A.K.A 'the pocket dimension Urahara Kisuke created'.

"Alright, then, it'll stop them from sneaking around down there. However, I highly doubt letting the students know you attached another dimension to their school will stop them from being inquisitive. Not to mention, while we're talking inquisitive, Umbridge has just been made 'high inquisitor' for the school. She'll try to get you sacked. She already thinks Yoruichi isn't human because of her animagus abilities, and I'm not human because of my apparent lack of growth."

Urahara shrugged, "All the better that we let her know, as opposed to having her stumble upon it and use it against us."

I shrugged, giving up, it was impossible to reason with this man, "Fine. Your training room, your rules. But if it gets us kicked out, _you _explain to Yamamoto that our very important undercover mission went down the drain because you were an absolute moron."

Urahara nodded, "Of course, Hitsu-chan. Take these downstairs for me?"

I grabbed the boxes, calling over my shoulder I said, "And for goodness sake, stop calling me that!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**Third Person POV**

Kisuke Urahara watched as the child prodigy walked down the stairs, "Yare, Yare." He murmered, "Hyoten Hyokasso already- the thousand flowered funeral. Yamamoto was right, the boy is definitely the reincarnation. And he's progressing faster that any reincarnations before him have. What do you think it means, Yoru-" he was cut off when students started filing into the room.

All the students were babbling excitedly about the fact they were actually using the kido today, especially after having worked so hard for the past several weeks. They hoped it wasn't as difficult as using those magical balls Kisuke had-if you did it wrong then you would blow up. Several people did lose concentration, and only quick reactions from the teachers had stopped them from blowing up the classroom and killing everyone in it.

Everyone sat down and took their usual places, and Kisuke began speaking, "Alright, I hope everyone has been practicing, because today we are going to be trying out _Bakudo One- Sai. _The incantation is, '_The falling shadow, the binding darkness. The mockingbird in a golden cage, and the butterfly pinned to a stage. The power glows, and the ropes call out thy name.' _A little ominous sounding, but simple enough- ne? The incantation shapes the kido, remember that. We've discussed the meanings and the effects of all the parts of the incantation for the past few days, so you are all ready. Just remember- never lose focus."

Everyone nodded, and Urahara pulled out his fan, "Excellent, if you have _any _questions than ask us. It's always better than getting blown sky high."

Everyone nodded, and Hermione said, "Erm . . . Professor- where is Hitsugaya?"

"Oh, he took some stuff down to the training room. Knowing him he's probably sitting on a cliff watching the sky. Silly little fledgling." Urahara chuckled.

"Sir- cliff?" Hermione said.

Urahara ignored her, "Anyhow, let's head on down."

He flipped open the trap door, and everyone began walking down the hallway, Harry looked queasy, "Sir? Is there a reason I don't feel well."

Urahara nodded, "This hallway is lined with seki-seki rock, it absorbs and blocks all spiritual pressure. This way your reiatsu won't leak up the hallway and into the actual school. There are several fragile spells there that we would damage, so we took this precaution. The feeling will pass soon."

And it did, as soon as they walked out onto what appeared to be a desert. The door stood in thin air, there were no walls, just cliffs and sand with the occasional dead tree and . . hunks of ice? "Holy shit." Ron said, looking around him, "What is this place."

"My, my." Kisuke said loudly, "I wonder how exactly this odd, alternate dimension got here."

There were a few heartbeats of silence, "Hn. Maybe Hitsu-chan knows how it got here. HIIIIIITSSSSSU-CHAAAAAAAAAN!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs.

Hitsugaya, who happened to be sitting on the cliff right above them, decided it would be more amusing to pour huge amounts of ice water right on Kisuke's head. "I'm right here, dumbass." he snarled, "And stop _calling me that!" _

Urahara was shivering, "That was mean, Hitsu-chan."

"You're in a desert right now, most people would find it refreshing."

"Are you going to come down from there?" asked Urahara.

"I don't know, I'm thinking about it."

The class, who were used to their antics, were ignoring the Captain class Shinigami. Their attention was turned back, though, when Urahara used a blue bolt of light to knock the cliff out from under Hitsugaya's feet and send him tumbling down the cliff. Their mouths widened with shock when Hitsugaya caught himself using his own reiatsu before lowering himself slowly to the ground. Brushing himself off he said, "That was completely unnecessary."

Urahara smiled, assured that he had his 'student' back on the ground with the class, and then turned and ignored him and talking to the rest of the class. Hitsugaya rolled his eyes, and Yoruichi walked up behind him. The two of them helped Kisuke keep an eye on the students while they practiced. Class went by without a hitch (a dozen or so explosions, but no one was hurt) and eventually the students left for the day.

Eventually the class ended and the students headed up the stairs, it was a Thursday, and they had transformation next. The excited students practically ran into McGonagall's classroom, a stern look from her and everyone fell silent. Hitusgaya smirked slightly behind his hand, imagining the woman whacking Kyoraku over the head with a book when he flirted with her.

She turned to her class, "I don't know what has you all so excited, but whatever it is stops now. Your OWLS are this year, so I expect you to spend this entire class practicing." Everyone nodded, agreeing with her and they all began studying.

The rest of the day followed suit, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Hitsugaya all ate dinner together before going to practice Kido. Hitsugaya taught them _Bakudo Two, Maisaku. _Invisible Rope. It was basically the same as sai, except it got the feet instead of the arms.

He said that that was what they would be learning tomorrow. It meant 'invisible rope'. He also told them if they got all the way to fifty before the end of the year he would teach them basic healing kido.

Eventually they got tired and meditated for a bit before heading back upstairs, Hitsugaya stayed down there. They waited a few minutes to see what he was doing, but were disappointed to see he was just meditating with Hyorinmaru.

As soon as they left Hitsugaya smiled and opened his eyes, the materialized Hyorinmaru appearing beside him , "Shall we begin, Master?"

"Yes."

And then they were off, flying around the room.

Meanwhile, The Golden Trio took the opportunity to go search some of the less restricted parts of the library for information. They wrote list of everything they could think of pertaining to the transfers:

_-Zanpakuto_

That one was obvious, yet they found nothing on it. There were no records anywhere in the immense Library of the school referring to the spirit swords, and they checked everywhere. There was a booth where you could write a word in the parchment there, and if it was anywhere in the Library- excluding the restricted section- then it would show up.

_-Kido_

Nothing.

_-Hado_

Nothing again.

_-Bakudo_

Still nothing.

_-Hoho_

Zero, Zip, Nada.

_-Zanjutsu_

There was one book, but it just referred briefly to Japanese style sword fighting. They already knew Hitsugaya did that, why else would he carry that freakin' large sword on his back.

_-Hakudo_

There was a fairly lengthy chapter on hand to hand fighting, but once again, nothing particularly useful. The three of them were starting to develop a deep hatred for secret societies, and they were beginning to wonder if maybe the transfers were making things up on the fly.

They wouldn't put it past them to do just that.

They were beginning to get desperate, and suddenly, Ron had a good idea, "Hey, guys? Do you remember that portrait at Sirius' house?"

Hermione shuddered, "I don't see how we can forget her."

Ron nodded, "Yeah, well, I would always listen to her to see if I could learn any curse words. Mum always tried to keep us really sheltered. I remember how after Hitsugaya showed up, she would always add 'Shinigami' to the list. And, when Yoruichi and Urahara showed up she added 'exiled traitors', 'shapeshifting abominations' and 'mostorous freaks' to the list.

Hermione's mouth fell open, "Ron . . . that's brilliant. That's . . . that's what they _are. _Shinigami."

They quickly wrote it down on the parchment in the booth.

_-Shinigami_

A book quickly appeared underneath the word and they all grinned.

Until the saw the title.

_Keepers of the Dead. Pages Seventy to Seventy five._

Harry gulped, "That looks ominous."

Hermione shrugged, "It's not like we weren't expecting it to be. C'mon, you two, let's go get it. Hopefully Hitsugaya won't come in here." They had noticed that the transfer spent an unusual amount of time in the library, literally working his way down the shelves from left to right, top to bottom. He had gotten through at least three hundred of the books; they were all wondering how the hell he did it.

Especially since English wasn't even his first language.

Hitsugaya let them wonder, he really didn't care. He was used to people speculating about his academic abilities- being a child prodigy/tensai tended to do that to you.

The golden trio headed over to the book, pulling it off the shelf. It was a thick, leather bound book. Hermione frowned at it, and opened it to the table of contents, "_Chapter One- different cultures and their guardians. Chapter two- Lands of the Living dead. Chapter three- spirits, human or otherwise. Chapter Four- Other theories-"_

Ron cut her off, "Yeah, yeah, 'Mione. Just flip open to the page."

Hermione nodded, "Alright. _Part Seventeen- Japanese Soul Reapers, also known as Shinigami-"_

She stopped abruptly when the door opened. Harry and Ron jumped into the air, but Hermione calmly put the book in her bag and pulled out her potions book and some parchment. The familiar spiky white hair was a giveaway as to who it was.

"Hello, Hitsugaya." Hermione said calmly. Ron and Harry had the stunned, 'deer in headlights' look.

Hitsugaya knew exactly what they had been doing, and he had to admit to waiting outside the room and walking into the room at that exact moment just to mess with them. He didn't care whether or not they figured it out, he just wanted to make sure they didn't read it out loud in a Library filled with children.

That, and he wanted to make Ron and Harry sweat a little. He thought Hermione's reaction was impressive, but the boys . . . not so much.

"Hello." He remarked calmly, sitting beside her, "I was wondering, do you have the list of questions for the divination homework? Mine got incinerated thanks to Kisuke."

Hermione shook her head, "I don't, but Ron or Harry should."

He turned to look at the aforementioned boys, Ron spoke first, "Uhhhmmm . . . they're-in-my-room-let's-go-get-them-Harry!"

The two boys rushed off and Hitsugaya pretended to act clueless while Hyorinmaru roared with laughter within his mind. Looking at Hermione he said, "Are they feeling okay?"

Hermione shrugged, "With them? Who knows . . ."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Later that night, after the trio believed Hitsugaya Toshiro to be safely asleep, they grabbed the invisibility cloak and snuck out of the room. As soon as they were out of the dormitories the aforementioned Soul Reaper climbed out of bed, already in his Shihakusho with Hyorinmaru materialized on his back.

"Honestly," he muttered under his breath, "Can they be any more obvious about sneaking out in the middle of the night?"

At least, he thought that until he got down to the common room and found their reiatsu traces had vanished.

"N-nani?" he stuttered, "Their reiatsu just disappeared? There's not even any traces of it. How on earth am I supposed to follow them now?"

He sighed, "I suppose I'll just take a shortcut to the library and get into a good hiding place before they get down there."

And with that he jumped out the window.

Meanwhile, Harry, Ron and Hermione had donned the invisibility cloak and were sneaking down to the library. It had taken all their self-restraint, but they had refrained from reading the book in the common room. The transfer- who they now knew was a Shinigami- had a habit of popping up at the most annoying moments. If they didn't know better, they would have said he did it on purpose.

They crept into the library, Hermione frowned at the lock on the restricted section doors, "Alohamora." She muttered under her breath. The padlock fell off, and the three of them crept inside.

They didn't notice the transfer was already in there, sitting on top of one of the beams in the ceiling, "Remember," Hermione muttered, "Look for anything pertaining to the transfers. Go through all books you can, we have all year. Set anything you find in my bag. We'll sneak out and read them in History of Magic class. Bins wouldn't notice even if we all got bloody noses, and Fred and George have the Nuggets ready. Not to mention, this is something they should be in on."

"Can we read the other book first?" Ron moaned, "It's been bugging me all day, it's right there, but we couldn't read it because Toshiro was there. It was like the ultimate torture."

Hitsugaya smirked again, he was still there. At least they made an honest attempt to keep it from him.

Hermione cast a longing glance at the bag, "Fine. We can read the book. I'll read the first three pages of introduction, and then we'll skip to the important part. She flipped it open and began reading.

Hitsugaya wondered momentarily if Ron and Harry were incapable of reading- it always seemed Hermione was reading their stuff out loud to them.

"_An Introduction to the living dead."_

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes at the looks of excitement on Ron and Harry's faces. They were like little kids about to read a bedtime story.

"_For centuries, a single question has plagued not only wizards, but every human to walk the face of this world; What happens when we die? Every culture has their own particular story, some refer to reincarnation, others refer to people's existence simply vanishing. The most common view on the subject is that of Christianity, that when we die we go to either Heaven or Hell where we spend the rest of eternity (see Chapter Sixteen)._

_However, there are many other views and opinions on the subject as well. Some people believe that no afterlife exists, that we are simply reincarnated and stuck back into another life. Some people believe that entities- guardians- take Souls over to another plane where they can live another life. We will begin with this theory in this Chapter. _

_Every country has their version of these Guardians; in England they are known as Grim Reapers, in North America they are known as Soul Reapers, in Greek Mythology Charon fills this post."_

Hermione gulped, "Oh, ewww . . . these pictures are horrible."

It was true, for the most part they included black cloaked figures forcing wailing, misty ghost-like figures through the gates of hell.

Hitsugaya snorted quietly, talking to Hyorinmaru mentally he said, '_Alright, one- we don't look like that. Two- dead souls don't look like that. Three- the gates of hell don't look like that. Four- this is going to look really bad for us if the pictures of Shinigami are similar.'_

"Now skip to the part about the Shinigami." said Ron.

Hermone clicked her teeth, "Fine, fine. Stop being so impatient, Ron. I'm getting there."

Apparently fate hated them, because Hermione got a paper cut while she was trying flip the pages, "Oooh, ouch! Thanks Ron, this is what I get for rushing."

Harry took the book from Hermione as she nursed her finger, and he began reading, "_Part Eighteen, Japanese Soul Reapers, also known as Shinigami, which literally translates into 'Death God'. They are entities who control the passage of human spirits between the worlds. Their job is to purify the spirits. The entire theory is based on reincarnation, they send spirits onto the other side when they die before recycling them back once they've died in heaven. The first Shinigami was a boy that went by the name of- _What the hell?" Harry yelped, "It's been erased?"

Hermione looked at it, "What- How? Darn! Now what?"

Harry shrugged, "We keep looking. We're in the restricted section now, let's finish the job."

Hyorinmaru looked at Hitsugaya questioningly, and the child prodigy held up his hands, talking inside his head he said, _"You of all people know I had nothing to do with this."_

Hyourinmaru nodded, he already knew that Hitsugaya wasn't responsible.

He had asked Kisuke to erase it himself.

The students nodded, and began sifting through the books. Hitsugaya sighed and closed his eyes, he was keeping his spiritual pressure completely dampened so they wouldn't notice him, and it was beginning to get a tad bit uncomfortable.

The trio searched for hours, but they were unable to find anything. Eventually they all regrouped in the center of the room, Ron sighed, "There's nothing here, 'Mione."

She nodded, "I know. Now what?"

Harry frowned, "I don't know. Let's head up to bed. We've found out a little bit more now, and we'll be able to add to it later."

They all nodded and trudged up to bed, relieved when they saw Hitsugaya 'still' in his room. The young Captain rolled his eyes at their naivety. He also resolved to show Harry's cloak to Urahara. That thing was a pain in the butt.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next morning the golden trio congregated in the common room. Everyone else had already gone down to breakfast, so they were free to talk to each other. Hermione looked at her friends, "I think I've figured out how we're going to get the information we need."

The other two looked at her, "How?"

"We'll pry it out of Hagrid. You know how he'll react if we go up to Hagrid and say 'we know the transfers are Shinigami' he'll spill everything about them. We've also deduced that they're not really from a school, since I highly doubt that they let death gods into a wizarding school."

Harry frowned, "But then the story of their school getting massacred?"

"Partly true," Hermione guessed, "Except I'd say that it wasn't a school. We'll go down to visit Hagrid after classes. It's a weekend, and Hitsugaya always disappears to go train on weekends."

"Speaking of which," said Ron, "We might want to go take a peek at that, see what he's doing.

Hermione nodded, "After we visit Hagrid tonight."

They all grinned, their plans in mind. They knew this would work, Hagrid was the world's worst secret keeper.

Classes that day went perfectly normal, with the exception of the fact the Umbridge came in and found everything in her class had been magically transformed to be a different colour. On the board there was one bright blue 'X'.

This too was normal though, Umbridge was near breaking point trying to find this 'X' person. This person never left any trace of who they were, and he evaded all the traps Umbridge set for them. Every single day Umbridge found herself the target of yet another prank, all signed 'X'.

The golden trio knew immediately that it was Hitsugaya, no one else in the school had those kinds of nefarious 'I can break into anything' talents. All the more funny was that Umbridge had no idea it was Hitsugaya, she seemed to think it was everyone working together.

As such, she treated everyone horribly, making the students loathe her and love Harry- her favourite chew toy. All the students thought it was Harry doing it, but the 'chosen one' denied all connections to the pranking.

The daily prophet still made him look like a troubled, attention seeking child. However, after one memorable incident where there were newspapers covered in graffiti (quite intelligently graffitied too) stuck to the walls with a permanent sticking charm the students had taken it upon themselves to add to the collection, defacing their own copies and sticking them up on the wall too. Students would spontaneously burst into laughter thinking of something they had seen on the wall.

However, they never covered up the red 'X' that had been painted across the wall of papers.

Hitsugaya Toshiro was beginning to get short on sleep, thanks to the training and the pranking. He was actually planning to spend the weekend sleeping in the training room, but he had time for one last training session before then. And he intended to make it count.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**Hitsugaya POV**

I turned sideways and narrowly dodged the barrage of icicles Hyorinmaru sent flying at me, I turned and shot off two waves of ice at him, hiding one behind the other. He shattered them both, and then used the ice particles to make thousands of tiny, bullet like snowballs the completely surrounded me.

A new attack.

Yay. I'm one step closer. Now I just need to figure out a way not to die.

They flew at me and I reacted instinctively, drawing in all of the ice particles around me and making a shield out of them. _Thwap-thwap-thwap-thwap-thwap._ Not one of the ice bullets managed to pierce my shield. I shattered it, and then used all of the particles in the air to create a clone. Hyorinmaru sent a barrage of ice at me, I ducked behind it and let it carry me to the ground, masking my reiatsu completely while the clone dodged Hyorinmaru.

The clone shattered.

"Fledgling, did you really think I wouldn't notice that that was a clone?"

No, not really.

I flared my reiatsu so that it covered the entire two kilometres around us, and so Hyorinmaru couldn't pinpoint exactly where I was within those two kilometres.

Hyorinmaru sighed, "Knowing how to play hide and seek is not my ultimate attack, you're never going to learn it this way."

On a childish impulse, knowing no one could see me, I stuck my tongue out at him. Fine, he wants me to attack. I'll attack. I imitated the snowball bullet attack, but with millions of them. Hyorinmaru let out a roar. I closed my fist and they all fired at him.

Only to be stopped when _he _imitated _my _ice shield.

"And here I thought you had it figured out." the dragon called, firing a massive amount around and forcing me to come out of my hiding spot when the ice almost hit me.

"Had what figured out?"

"My ultimate technique."

"It's kind of hard to master when I don't know what your ultimate technique it."

I swear to kami, Hyorinmaru started laughing, "That's what makes this so amusing. You know what my ultimate technique is already, and you've already used the ultimate attack several times today."

"Wait, you mean the two are different?" that might explain a lot.

"Yes. You should remember this from your academy days. What is the difference between the two."

"An ultimate attack is a specific attack you use against something, and the ultimate technique is the preparation for that attack. Kind of like how me using shunpo to get close to you is a technique, and me stabbing you once I've used shunpo is an attack."

"Yes. Now, fledgling, take a guess. What is my ultimate, and strongest, technique."

That was pretty obvious, "Tenso Jurin?"

"Yes. And my attack?"

"Etto. . . Hyoten Hyokasu."

"Wrong." A surge of reiatsu from him created several bits of ice above my head that shot towards me at a ferocious rate. I caught them all with a net of ice, and Hyorinmaru laughed again.

"What?" I snapped at him, getting more than a little irritated.

"You just used it."

"What do you mean? That was just a split second defence thing."

"Exactly."

"Damnit! You're talking in riddles again!" I snarled.

"Think, fledgling, what is it called when you just make something up on the fly?"

". . . an improvisation?" I said, waiting for more icicles to fall on my head.

"Yes. Now, given that you have the ability to control all the water in the atmosphere, and that you're far too smart for your own good, is there ever going to be a time when you cannot think of a more powerful attack? Or an attack that's more suited to the situation?"

"No."

I paused.

_Oh._

All the pieces clicked into place, "You bastard! You have no ultimate attack! You've been playing a game of riddles with me!"

Hyorinmaru laughed again, "Finally got it, ne fledgling?"

"You . . . you . . . you have no idea just how pissed off I am right now!"

Hyorinmaru just kept laughing.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I am so sorry it took me so long to get this Chapter out. I had complete and total case of writer's block that I couldn't seem to shake off- mostly because there are parts of this chapter that required some serious angst, particularly the Harry part at the end. I apologize; I've never been good at angsty stories, so it may be rough. **

**On another note, except for the first part with just Hitsugaya, most of this Chapter will be in all third person. I apologize if this confuses anyone, but it makes it a lot easier for me to get inside the heads of the Golden trio this way.**

**Chapter Nineteen- The Shinigami**

**Third Person POV**

Ron, Harry and Hermione hurried out of the classes and down to Hagrid's home.

They knocked on the door of the hut and Fang started barking, they hear Hagrid tell the dog to hush, and then the half giant opened the door up. "Oh, 'Ello there. 'Arry, Ron, 'Ermione. Good t' see ya. What so I owe the pleasure of yer visit to?"

"Well, Hagrid," Hermione said, "We need to talk to you about some things."

Hagrid sighed, "Have you three been stickin' yer noses where they don' belong again?"

The trio looked at each other awkwardly, "Well . . ." said Harry, "I suppose it's a little late now to change anything. We've already figured it all out."

Hagrid sighed, "Come in, you three. I'll make some tea."

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**Hitsugaya POV**

I sighed and leaned back against the tree, staring blankly at the leaves above. This was just like back in Rukongai, sleeping against a tree with an annoying voice trying to make contact inside my mind, and people gossiping. For an example on the whole gossiping thing, right now the three 'super sleuths' are 'sneaking' down to Hagrid's hut to discuss 'top secret plans'.

Tch. If they wanted it to be a secret then they should have kept their damn mouths shut.

I had been running on a total of four hours sleep every night for the past month. I swear, I was near passing out. I've gone longer without, but normally at those times I'm not constantly training.

I suppose, if I really wanted too, I could keep training-

_**No.**_

_Hmm? I could if I wanted._

_**Yes, but I would refuse to train with you**_

_Why would you do that?_

_**You're so tired I would swear the world is spinning. Admittedly, it happens fairly often since you're such a workaholic, so you probably don't notice it. I, on the other hand, have gotten a bit tired of your inner world turning into a merry-go-round. Go to sleep.**_

_What if I said no?_

_**I'd spank you like the brat you are and then knock you unconscious so that you couldn't hurt yourself. As well as refuse to train with you for a month.**_

_We don't have a month! Aizen could attack any time!_

_**Well, you should get to sleep then.**_

_Fine, fine._ I seethed silently, _Stupid dragon, telling me what to do. I oughta-_

_**Go. To. Sleep.**_

_I already said I was, damnit!_

_**Then shut the hell up and start sleeping!**_

I decided that there was no use in arguing, and just closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

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**Third Person POV**

They all sat around Hagrid's table, huge buckets of tea in front of them. Hagrid was trying to glare at them, but for someone as nice as him, it just wasn't effective. Eventually he relented and said, "So . . . what've you gotten yerselves into this time?"

"Well," Harry trailed off, "We were curious about the transfers, since they're members of the Order and everything, and . . . ummm . . . ahh . . . we figured that you might know something."

"And why should I tell you?"

Hermione shrugged, "Well, we've already figured out their undead Japanese fighters that are supposed to go around sending souls to the afterlife. At this point, you might as well tell us everything, or else we'll just go ask Hitsugaya. He appears to want us to know, or else he would have stopped us by now."

"He doesn't know what we're doing." Ron said defensively.

"Yes," Harry, Hermione and Hagrid all spoke at the same time, "he does."

"He's not blind, Ron." Harry explained, "He sleeps in the same room as us- and he has those damn reflexes. He's noticed us sneaking around, at the very least."

"He doesn't _act _like he knows."

"Undead japanese fighter." Hagrid said pointedly, "If he can't act, no one can."

Hermione grinned triumphantly, "So you admit that he's a Shinigami!"

"Yes, Hermione, he's a Shinigami. Now Dumbledore's gonna have my hide if he learns I told you anymore, so let it drop."

"But-"

"No! Not another word from yous!"

". . ." An awkward silence filled the room.

"So . . . how are your classes going?" Hermione said hesitantly.

They chatted idly for a long time about life at Hogwarts, Umbridge's new restrictions, how the Order was doing (nothing classified, unfortunately, Hagrid had refused to say anything about that matter, amd they didn't really want to ask Hitsugaya right now) and most of all they talked about Hagrid's classes, and while he seemed to think that they were going well, it was clear that they weren't.

Hermione sighed, "How about I come down tomorrow after classes and help you make up lesson plans, Hagrid? That way Umbridge won't be able to get you at all for anything, because you'll have it all planned out already."

Hagrid beamed, "Why, that'd be wonderful."

"So, see you tomorrow then?" Hermione stood up, and Ron and Harry followed suit. Hagrid opened the door for them and showed them out.

"See you all tomorrow."

The golden trio jogged up the steps to the castle, not wanting Umbridge to see them and start asking awkward questions. They debated heading to the training room where Toushirou would surely be, but then they decided against it. They had been out for a surprisingly long time, and it was well past dinner time. They decided it would be a better idea to go and sneak into the school kitchens and get food and then go to bed, rather than risk getting caught sneaking around the school by Umbridge.

Which probably would have been far too easy for her, since they hadn't bothered to bring the invisibility cloak.

Not that it would have helped them much.

It had come to their attention that they were getting too big for it, Ron especially, and that it was becoming increasingly difficult to all fit underneath there. After one incident involving Ron, Hermione and a couple of accidental grabs in personal areas, Harry had vowed to go find a way to replicate the invisibility cloak so that he would be able to give them each one and never go through that kind of awkward situation again.

Honestly- you'd think that after being friends for so long, none of them would care about embarrassing moments like that. But _no_, the hormones just had to kick in while they were all crammed under the invisibility cloak, stuffed into a broom closet and hiding from Filch.

It would naturally be _just his luck_.

Someone out there really hated him.

Maybe he would ask Hitsugaya if god actually existed when they confronted him about the whole undead-reaper-of-souls thing. Maybe the Shinigami would be willing to put in a good word for him so that the powers that be would stop messing with his life so much.

Hell- who was he kidding?

The only people that had worse luck than him were- in order- Ron, Neville, and Hitsugaya Toushirou himself.

If the Shinigami could do anything about bad luck, he would have probably done it a _long _time ago.

Or at the very least, he would probably have asked for a less intimidating hair colour.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sitting on his perch in the training room, Hitsugaya sneezed loudly and then sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

_I should probably head back to the dormitories and fall asleep there so that I can keep an eye on Harry- shouldn't I?_

_**It might be wise.**_

The young child prodigy of the Tenth division hopped down and slowly made his way to the training room exit. He wasn't feeling like he was in a particularly large hurry. In fact, if anything, he was feeling rather drowsy. That wasn't a normal feeling for him, so he figured it was a sign that Hyourinmaru was right and he should probably take the weekend off.

_**I told you so.**_

_Bragging is unbecoming of you._

_**I know, I know. Doesn't mean I'm not right, though.**_

_Yeah, yeah. _Hitsugaya thought idly as he made his way up the stairs into the common room, _You're a brilliant genius. How I manage to survive in your glorious presence is a mystery to all of us._

_**Sarcasm is unbecoming of you.**_

The Captain snickered quietly and changed into his pyjamas before climbing into bed.

_That doesn't make it any less entertaining._

He fell asleep and actually slept soundly, and deeply, with no dreams whatsoever until noon the next day. He opened his eyes and saw how high the sun was in the sky before mentally cursing his need for sleep.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were all sitting on Ron's bed idly doing homework. The window to the room was flung wide open and it was probably one of the nicest days that they were going to get before winter kicked in; the sun was shining and there was a faint breeze. Hitsugaya was impressed; even the Soul Society rarely had days this nice in the middle of October. Normally it would be rainy and muggy, and generally icky weather.

Harry looked over, "You sure slept late."

Hitsugaya shrugged, "I had nothing better to do."

"Yeah, but still, now that you're up . . ." Ron trailed off, "Umm . . . we were wondering if . . ."

_Here it comes._ Hitsugaya murmured to his Zanpakutou.

"If . . . ummm . . ." Ron appeared to have an inherently hard time spitting it out, and eventually Hermione tried.

"We . . . erm . . . heard some rumour about you and Urahara and Shihoin, and umm well, umm we-were-wondering-if-you-were-really-a-shinigami-hired-by-Dumbledore-to-protect-the-school-and-if-you-were . . . if you were . . ." she trailed off, "Y'know . . . _dead_."

Hitsugaya sighed, "Yeah, I kind of figured it would be that. Let's head down to the training room, I don't want to risk anyone overhearing. I can explain everything there."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The golden trio was, if anything, very confused right now. They hadn't been expecting Hitsugaya to deny the truth, that wasn't the way the Shinigami seemed to work. What they had been expecting though, was for him to say 'none of your business' and shut them out completely.

They sat down in the training room, the three of them on a rock with the white haired boy in front of them. Hitsugaya stared at them for a few seconds and then sighed, "You lot can be really unassertive, you know that? You've been sneaking around for the past week or so, doing secret research. And after all that time, you don't even tell me what you found?"

"So you _did _know what we were doing!" Hermione snapped, "I _knew _it."

"Congratulations." came the sarcastic drawl.

"So why didn't you tell us? It would have saved us a lot of sleep if we didn't have to sneak around like that." Harry muttered irritably.

A shrug, "To be completely honest- I was bored and you all provided an honest source of entertainment. Besides, I was kind of curious what you would turn up about Soul Reapers. Classes in the academy about human's knowledge of us are about as accurate as what your classes tell you muggles think about wizards."

"I see. So- your people actually have a school then? I mean, we always thought you lot were lying about that."

"I kind of was. Urahara isn't a teacher at the school, and I graduated years ago. I don't think that Yoruichi even attended the academy- but they both left about a century before I showed up, so I wouldn't know."

They paused and then Harry said, "So why are you _really _here. And don't say it's because Dumbledore asked you to, because you don't respect him at all."

"It's a bit of a long story." Hitsugaya said calmly.

"We have time."

"I kind of figured that, too. I'll make it short. About a year ago, a Captain called Aizen betrayed the Soul Society. Along with him went two other Captains- Ichimaru and Tousen."

Harry frowned, "You told us about them- you just said that they had threatened your school and were the new allies that everyone was worried about. So they're actually Shinigami?"

"Yeah. Nasty ones, though. Aizen managed to get his hands on a reality-bending device called the Hogyouku. He was invincible before- now he's immortal. He plans to usurp the Soul King and place himself as the new god of the world."

"So- why is he here?"

"In order to beat the Soul King he needs three things- first, to find something to make him immortal."

"He's got that." Hermione said.

"Second, he needs to defeat anyone who could stop him from getting to the Soul King."

"That would be you."

Hitsugaya shook his head, "No, not me. He's worried about Yamamoto and Urahara. Maybe Kurosaki too, if Kurosaki has progressed that far. He could defeat me or pretty much anyone else without even blinking."

"So- why would you risk fighting Aizen if you know he's powerful enough to kill you easily?"

"Why would you fight Voldemort when you've seen him fight and you know he's powerful enough to kill _you_."

"He killed my parents! Ican't just let that lie!"

"Exactly. What Aizen has done is unforgivable for us to. No matter how futile it is, I have to try to beat him. Besides," Hitsugaya gave a grim smile, "he'd kill me even if I wasn't fighting him, so I might as well give it my best."

"So . . . what's the third thing he needs."

"Access to the King's realm, which is a lot harder than it seems. Him getting in there is like a human trying to get into Soul Society without a Shinigami to guide them. It's nearly impossible. To do it, he needs a key, and there are only two ways to do that."

"How?" Hermione prodded.

"The first was to go to the spiritually rich plot of land in the world of the living, and then sacrifice a thousand souls and steal their life energy at that land. That way is no longer possible for him, since we made sure no soul will ever go near that land, making it impossible for him to make the key there."

"How did you do that?" Ron asked.

"A fake earthquake that knocked down all of the buildings as well as sinking the town so it flooded with water. No one was hurt, and Aizen won't be able to use it anymore. The fact that we made that one impossible to use means that Aizen now has to use the second one. Which is here in Hogwarts somewhere. The only problem is that none of the books we have left doesn't tell us what that was actually _is._"

"So that was why Aizen allied himself with Voldemort- to figure out what information is in Hogwarts that could help him?" Hermione speculated.

"Maybe." Hitsugaya frowned, "Although, I get the feeling that there's something else to it."

"Why?"

"What are the chances that Voldemort just _happens _to know how to create a key to the King's realm?"

"Slim to none." Ron stated.

"Exactly."

"So . . . now what?" Harry asked.

Hitsugaya shrugged, "We keep waiting. I've been going through the library as much as I can, but my knowledge of wizarding isn't that great yet. Not to mention the fact that it could literally be _anything_."

Harry frowned, "If we have nothing better to do . . . could we practice some kido, then?"

"Don't you all have a potions essay due tomorrow?"

"Well . . . yeah."

"And isn't your OWL year kind of important?"

"Well . . . yeah."

". . ." the look Hitsugaya gave them said it all.

"I guess we should do that, shouldn't we."

"Yeah, you really should."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Harry sighed and leaned back into his pillows. The sun had set ages ago, and they had only just finished their essays. That being said- it felt like they had done a pretty thorough job of them. They had spent almost all of the day concentrating on them, and had them so well written that not even Snape would be able to find anything wrong with them.

Now that they were out of the way, though, he found his mind drifting to other things.

Mainly the transfers.

Or rather, where they came from.

Now that they had deduced the big secret around the Shinigami, a few things were beginning to hit home.

The first thing was that Hitsugaya was _dead_. Honest-to-god _dead_. And he looked about ten years old. That would have meant he was really young when he died, which must have sucked a lot. Sitting in the training room and talking, that hadn't seemed like such a big deal, but now, laying in bed and mulling things over . . . well, it seemed like a big deal.

He had had his fair share of near death experiences, and last year at the end of the tri-wizard tournament, he had come closer than most. For a few moments, he had thought he was going to die. When he was tied to that damn statue, and Voldemort was stealing his blood, he had never been more terrified in his life.

It was one thing to be in the middle of a fight and be . . . well . . . _fighting_. When you were fighting, you didn't have time to think about the consequences, you just concentrated on surviving and that was it. But when you weren't fighting. When you were just laying there, waiting for death to come . . . that was a whole different story.

In the end, Voldemort had freed him from that torture and then duelled him. And in that duel, his family had come to protect him.

Had anyone done that for Hitsugaya?

Or had he just lain there, waiting for death to come. Knowing that there was nothing anyone could do to help him.

That scared Harry a lot. Up until now, he had never really thought much about dying- sure, it scared him. But he always thought 'I'm young, I have the rest of my life ahead of me'.

The only problem with that train of thought was that Hitsugaya, and even Urahara and Shihoin to an extent, were not 'old' by any means. All three of them had pretty much died young.

And then there was the fact that they had never actually thought that much about the land of the dead itself. Obviously, it was different than what they thought. A lot different, given the fact that there was a military organization running the place. Was it a happy place?

Or was it some kind of horrifying dystopia.

His parents were there.

He had never thought of it like that, but his parents were currently in the same place that Hitsugaya and the other transfers had come from.

Were they happy there? Were his parents even together still?

For what seemed like the millionth time he flipped over and irritably tried to get comfortable.

Why couldn't he fall asleep?

Eventually he got up and decided to go downstairs and do some divination homework. It's not like he was doing anything useful tossing and turning in bed, and divination homework would normally put him right to sleep.

He grabbed his bag and went downstairs, idly noting that Hitsugaya's bed was empty.

He hoped the transfer wasn't in the common room. He wasn't sure if he could face the other boy right now.

Damnit. Why on earth was this only bugging him? Hermione and Ron both seemed fine around the transfers.

He got halfway down the stairs and froze when he saw the transfer sitting one of the chairs reading. He made a move to turn around and Hitsugaya's voice stopped him, "Something you wanted, Potter?"

"Huh- oh, umm, no, I was just coming down to do some divination homework."

"Is that so? Rather late for that, don't you think? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

Harry winced, "Well, ummm, I couldn't sleep. So I came down here to divination homework."

"So why are you turning around?" Hitsugaya said calmly, picking up a cup of tea of the bedside table beside him, frowning at it, and then setting it down.

"Umm . . . well, I didn't want to disturb you."

"I don't mind." Hitsugaya said simply.

Harry stuttered, "Umm. Ah. Well, I was kind of thinking that I would try and sleep again."

"Potter. Do you really think if you just run upstairs you'll be able to sleep? Do you _really _think that will fix your problem?"

"Umm . . . well . . . no, not really. I guess it won't. How did you know I was going to be bugged out by all of this?"

Hitsugaya folded up the book, and put it aside. Harry noticed that the inside of his hand, the one he had gone to pick the tea up with was shiny and almost glass-like.

"Hey- Hitsugaya? Is there something wrong with your hand?"

A pause and then, "Damnit. I knew I shouldn't have tried to drink that tea."

"Uh- what?"

"It melted my hand." A voice came from the corner of the room hidden behind the fireplace, and Harry turned to look in time to see a tall, green-haired man walk out.

"Hyourinmaru?" Harry yelped. He lowered his voice and hissed, "Why are you out here?"

"Because I knew you would, as you put it, be 'bugged out' and my Master has the emotional depth of the ten year old he resembles, so he's not going to be able to help you out without screwing something major up."

"Then who is-"

The Hitsugaya sitting on the couch shattered into millions of tiny shards of ice dust.

"Oh. A clone. Where is he, then?"

"Training hand-to-hand combat and flash step with Shihoin. Sucker. She's going to _kill _him."

"Why is he doing that?" Harry asked curiously.

"Because she bullied him into it, and he knows that it's his weakest area so he's willing to put effort into improving. He can beat her in sword fights, but he's always been a bit to shrimpy to get a good start in hand to hand fighting, and now she's going to make it so that he'll _have_ to get better at it. But enough of that, I came here because we were worried about you and Toushirou couldn't figure out a way to talk to you himself, since you've been avoiding him ever since you got near the end of those essays. Not to mention he's never been good at talking."

"Is he really that bad with people?"

"Well, no . . . not really. He's just used to the Shinigami method of dealing with things, which is beating someone up until they snap and let all those pent up emotions up. For the record, if you don't talk to me, that is plan two. So I suggest you start talking. What is it about the whole dead thing that's bugging you?"

That brought Harry back to the present, and he plopped down on the couch, "I don't know. Mainly the fact that you're all _dead_. It's a little hard to swallow. It's . . . I dunno. I just find it hard to imagine what it must have been like to die. I mean, I've been close to dying, and that terrified me. It scared me so much I'm surprised that I'm even sane. So if I feel that way, how are you all sane?"

Hyourinmaru frowned, and Harry was shocked by how similar that expression was to the one Hitsugaya wore so often, "Well, I'll admit, the actual dying is a bitch. But in a way, it's no worse than thinking you're about to die. The only difference is with one, you wake up and you're on earth, and the other you wake up and you're in Soul Society. And if what's bothering you is the fact that you're horrified for us, then don't bother. If we're not bugged because we're dead, then you shouldn't be dead because we're dead. That make sense?"

"Yeah. Umm . . . what's the Soul Society like."

"It's just another version of the World of the Living."

"So . . . my parents?"

"They both died at the same time right?"

"Well . . . yeah. They did."

"Then they're probably together living their lives as best they can."

"Do you think they still remember me?"

"Most likely. I don't see how they could forget." Hyourinmaru said softly.

"Will I ever see them again?"

"That, I'm afraid, I don't know. Soul Society is the same size as the world of the Living, after all." Hyourinmaru wasn't sure how else to put it.

". . . I see. So they're not really watching over me, are they?"

Hyourinmaru sighed, "No. They're not."

Harry chuckled, and Hyourinmaru raised an eyebrow at him, "In a way, that scares me. But I know that when I needed them last year, they came. I don't know how, but they did. So I know that if I really need them, they'll help me. But in a way, it's relieving too, because I was always afraid they could- you know- see me when I was going to the washroom, and that's just awkward and nerve-racking."

Hyourinmaru stared for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing, "That, Potter, is one of the weirdest things I have ever heard. And trust me, I have heard some _really _weird things."

Harry chuckled, "That was weird, wasn't it? So, you think they're happy in Soul Society, then?"

"Yeah, I do. It's a relaxing place, when you get down to it."

Hyourinmaru hoped that by the time Potter got to the Soul Society himself, he would forget that little white lie.

Harry nodded, "Thanks."

"No problem. Unless you need anything else, I'm going to the training room. I want to try and make sure Shihoin doesn't kill my Master."

"Why do you do that?" Harry asked curiously.

"Do what?"

"Call him 'Master'. I mean, he thinks of you as his partner." Harry explained.

"It's complicated. Really complicated. Just acknowledge that it makes no sense and move on." Hyourinmaru said shortly.

"But-"

He was cut short when Hyourinmaru swore and grabbed his arm. "Ouch. Son of a bitch that woman is insane."

"What? What happened?"

"That crazy woman just broke his arm in two places. To be fair, he pretty much knew this would happen. But still. _Ouch_."

"I take it you should get going?"

"Yeah. Good night, Potter. If anything is bothering you, let us know."

"Yeah I will."

Harry frowned at the massive man shattered into a million tiny pieces the way the clone had, and then leaned back to stare at the fire. It was still a lot to take in . . . but for some reason, knowing that his parents were probably still together in the afterlife made it better. If what Hyourinmaru said was true, then they were just happily living out their lives in Soul Society.

Although- that still raised one question.

How was it that last summer the two of them had shown up to help defeat Voldemort. Was it all an illusion?

Or had there been something else going on that night? After all, it was entirely possible that a spell or something had affected things.

But if that was the case- what was the spell?

Harry sighed and leaned back.

Nothing ever made sense anymore.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: So, here is the next Chapter. Once again, I apologize for the long time between updates. Onto other things, there will be another pole coming out soon. When I first started the planning for this story, it was before I had found out that Ichimaru wasn't actually on Aizen's side. Because of this, the plans for the story have him acting evil. That being said, though, it would be easy enough for me to switch things around if enough people want me to. So the question for the pole is:**

** Do you want Ichimaru to be evil or good?**

**On another note- several of you commented that at the start of last Chapter, Hitsugaya was a little out of character. I figured I'd explain why here, since I couldn't figure out a good way to slide the explanation into the story without it seeming out-of-place. Basically- he was exhausted. Between all the things he was doing, he was burning vast amounts of reiatsu training, and then not eating very much. The reason Hyourinmaru was worrying so much was because he knew that Hitsugaya was wearing himself out. It's always seemed to me that he works too much in Soul Society too, and the only reason he doesn't overdo it is because he has people like Ukitake, Hinamori and Matsumoto making him stop every once and a while. But here, there's no one to do that so Hyourinmaru has to be a little more assertive.**

**Chapter Twenty- The Horcruxes**

**Hitsugaya POV**

I frowned and leaned back against a rock my arm throbbing numbly. Yoruichi was sitting across from me grinning, and Kisuke was passing me bandages and splints so I could wrap my arm up.

Yoruichi's smile grew, "Hey- you're not bad. When you said this was your worst area, I thought you meant that you couldn't even throw a decent punch. But you actually gave me a bruise, see?" She pointed to a bruise on her chin and laughed again, "I haven't gotten a bruise in _ages._"

I laughed dryly, "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

It had been a really stupid idea to let her talk me in to this. The only reason I agreed was because hakuda was my weakest area, and I figured it couldn't hurt to get better at it.

Of course, I forgot to factor in the fact that Shihoin is just as insane as Urahara, and when it comes to training she has no problem beating on someone until they pull off the trick she wants them to.

Hence the broken arm and numerous bruises I currently had.

I was starting to understand why Kurosaki had such a high learning curve- with these two as teachers it probably would have been necessary for his survival.

Yoruichi bounced up, "What should we do next- you're still good to play. It's just a few bruises."

I smirked, "And a broken arm."

"You've had worse." she said flippantly.

"Yeah- _from Aizen_."

Yoruichi laughed, "Yeah, yeah. Stop whining- if you were really hurt you would stop training."

"I'm not whining." I objected.

Yoruichi nodded, "True. Compared to Ichigo, you do complain a lot less. But that's beside the point Kisuke- is his arm fixed?"

Urahara nodded, "Yep. He's all yours."

"Excellent. This time, I wanna play tag." Yoruichi grinned, "So, catch me if you can!" She took off in a burst of flash step and I took off after her. For the most part, it was a simple game of flash-tag. Of course, Shihoin being Shihoin and apparently deciding that there was no need to play such a _simple _game, she also took the opportunity to fling high level kido spells at me.

I ducked to the side and one of them whizzed past me and slammed into the cliff beside me, causing the overhang to collapse.

_BAMN!_

A huge pile of rocks came tumbling down and I grabbed several of them with Hainewa, sending them flying towards her. She dodged too, and most of them flew past her. However, when she went to dodge the last one, she got caught in the Hainewa kido trailing behind one of the other rocks and tripped before falling in a heap.

Before she had a chance to get up, I darted over and tagged her. "Got you."

She laughed, "So you did. You're _definitely _more fun than I thought you would be."

"Just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." she smiled innocently, "You should probably go to bed soon, though, sleeping will make your arm heal faster. How is it, by the way?"

I shrugged, "Sore."

As she'd said, I had had worse injuries.

She nodded, "I was thinking we might want to start teaching the older kids a rudimentary flash-step in kido tomorrow-"

I frowned, and then a familiar presence came back into my mind, and the bracelet re-appeared on my wrist.

_**Master. Nice to see you're still alive.**_

_Welcome back. How is Potter doing?_

_**Really well, actually, if you factor in the circumstances. I'll tell you later, though. What was it that Shihoin just suggested?**_

_Teaching the older kids flash-step. I can see why she would want to do it. If the school gets attacked, kido won't be enough. They'll need to be able to run away, and in order to do that . . ._

_**They need to know flash-step.**_

_Exactly._

I turned back to Shihoin, "I think that you're right . . . but they need to be more physically fit first. For a group of children at a boarding school who have virtually no opportunities for physical activity since wizards scoff at muggle sports, they're surprisingly in shape. I honestly don't know how they do it. But despite that, none of them have the physical fitness to be able to do even one flash step."

She nodded, "I agree, which is why I want to make learning this mandatory. If we get attacked and they can't even hold a steady run . . . it'll be bad."

"Yeah, you're right about that." I frowned, "How are we going to make _all_ of them train though- not just the older kids? That kind of training will take at least an hour a day, if not more. The class is normally only an hour long, and that's including the time it will take to learn kido."

Yoruichi nodded, "I know. I want to talk to Dumbledore about it- to be blunt, this school needs to start encouraging _some _form of physical activity."

"There's just one other problem, though," I said, "Umbridge is afraid of Dumbledore raising an army out of Hogwarts, right?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think it's going to go over too well if we start teaching the students more than just defensive kido."

"I don't think that will be a problem," Yoruichi explained calmly, "After all, all we would be doing is teaching the students how to run away, which is what Umbridge wants them to do. We aren't teaching them anything offensive."

"Still, we might want to run it past _her _too. That way, we can make sure she officially condones it herself, and it will make her think we're on her side. While we don't actually care what she thinks, at least pretending we do will make her happier and easier to deal with."

"Sure. Why not."

I shrugged, "I trust you to know what you're doing, then. Do you need any help setting it up?"

She shook her head, "No. But . . ."

She hesitated.

I frowned, "It's not like you to not say what you're thinking."

Yoruichi sighed, "I was thinking, once Umbridge leaves- you are still working on that, right? And you're making sure not to do anything that any other student wouldn't be able to do?"

I nodded, "Of course, although limiting myself to childish pranks is rather inefficient. Have you found any blackmail we can use on her yet?"

"Well, once she leaves, I would like to start teaching them kendo using those reiatsu-channelling swords from the academy."

I raised an eyebrow, "The only reason you would use those particular swords is because you would want them to develop Zanpakutou."

"Is that too much?"

I sighed , "Yeah. It is. Those swords are only given to fourth year academy students for a reason. They're dangerous. Sure, it would help with their reflexes . . . but those swords have never been used with humans. Let's focus on the flash step for now. To be honest, I would rather they learn hado first before we even begin to start on zanjutsu. They aren't Ichigo. If we put them through the same stuff you put him through, it will kill them. And not in the Shinigami-friendly way, either."

She nodded, "Alright." she grimaced, "I don't like not teaching them _everything_, though. We're to blame for forcing them into the center of a warzone, and we aren't even doing anything to let them learn how to properly defend it. I want them to be even better taught than academy students. I want them to be stronger than _me _so that I know they'll be able to stand against Aizen."

"I know what you mean . . . and as loathe as I am to try and sheltering them . . . they're humans. You've been training for centuries, and they're a bunch of children. I know how much you like mentoring people, and helping them, but here that won't work. They're still living. Let's try and keep them that way." I paused, "That being said, it . . . might be best not to tell Yamamoto we're teaching them flash-step purposely."

Yoruichi smiled evilly, "My, my- what would Yamamoto do if he heard you say that."

I shrugged, "Probably kick my ass from here to Soul Society and back again. And probably try to execute me too; he's been in one of those moods for the past decade. But he's not here, and what he doesn't know won't hurt him. After all- most people with reiatsu learn some form of flash-step instinctively without any help at all. We'll just say we saw that happening, and decided to intervene before it got out of hand."

"He won't believe that."

"There's nothing he can do about it."

Yoruichi nodded, "True. And if he found out we were teaching them purposefully, it's be a miracle if the worst he did was give us a lecture. Ever since Ichigo, he's been picky about humans learning Shinigami abilities."

Picky was one way of putting it.

Outright homicidal was another way.

I nodded, and said, "If there's nothing else that you want . . ."

"Well . . . as odd as this sounds, Umbridge seems to trust you the most out of all of us."

"_What?!_"

"Or rather, she thinks you're the least harmless. So . . . would you mind breaking the subject to her? Just work some magic or something."

"I don't think there is any spell in the wizarding arsenal that can help me with that."

"Still, she thinks Kisuke is a drug addict and that I'm a slutty, immoral bitch. With you, she just thinks you've been brainwashed."

". . . You just don't want to do it yourself." I accused.

"Well, yeah. But please, just give it a try."

I sighed, "Alright, fine. I'm off then. See you tomorrow."

She waved lazily and I headed back to the dormitories. I was exhausted- Shihoin really was good at hakuda.

_**So- should we stop at the hospital wing to get something for that arm?**_

_Nah. Urahara did something to these bandages, I'm pretty sure. They've been infused with healing kido and wizarding magic. The bone should be healed by tomorrow morning._

_**That's neat.**_

_Yeah . . . _

I paused, and heard approaching footsteps.

_Umbridge is just around that corner, isn't she?_

_**Yep.**_

_Great. Just my luck._

I turned and ran down a side hallway to try and find another way up to the Gryffindor dormitory. It was one of those hallways in the castle that no one seemed to have gone down for a while. The floor was dusty, which was odd given the fact that Filch and the house elves normally did a pretty good job of cleaning things.

It eventually narrowed into a curving passage way, and I couldn't tell where it led at all. There were no windows or lights and everything was covered in a thin layer of dust.

"_Lumos_." The wand lit up and I followed the thin, curving passage way. It was only wide enough that I could just barely squeeze through it—and that said something, because I wasn't exactly broad shouldered. Instead of stairs there were a few ladders that I had to climb up.

Eventually, it widened out and showed a room filled with dusty old boxes. There were still no windows, but strange torches that gave off no smoke or light lined the walls.

_I've never heard of this part of the castle before._

_**Fred and George probably know about it.**_

_No, I don't think that they do. Or that Potter's father and his little band of friends know either- it wasn't on the Marauder's map, or even on the map I got from Dumbledore._

_**So no one has been here for years?**_

I went over to one of the boxes, curious, and opened it up. Inside I found a pile of end-of-term exams, labelled with the date 'June Fourth, Fourteen-Twenty-Four'.

_I would say centuries, not years. These are ancient. Not to mention how much dust there is here._

_**Either way, let's keep going. We need to check in on Potter in the dormitories.**_

I nodded and started walking again, eventually the passageway cleared and began to look slightly cleaner- like what one would expect the castle proper to look like. Eventually I came out in a hallway in what I thought was the Seventh floor. I had only briefly walked around when I first got here, but I was pretty positive I recognized how to get back to the Gryffindor dormitories from here.

I turned to look back at the passageway . . . only to come face to face with a stone wall.

_What on earth?_

_**This certainly is an interesting building, if nothing else.**_

_It's downright troublesome, that's what it is. Passageways we don't know about only make it harder to defend._

_**True.**_

I started walking down the hallway again, and yawned.

_Jeez, I'm tired._

_**You should stop training so hard- what will you do if the castle is attacked and you're too tired to stand.**_

I sighed.

_If I can be blunt- I know you don't like talking about how likely I am to die -but, let's face it . . . if Aizen attacks, there is nothing I can do about it other than get in peoples way. I can fight of Hollows, Arrancar, get students to safety . . . but I can do nothing against Aizen himself. Neither Urahara or Shihoin have been hypnotized by him. I have. And you know as well as I do, once he's used his hypnosis on someone once, he can use it again. For all I know, this is all something he's made up and I'm locked in a cell somewhere._

_**Master, do you really think that this is all an illus-**_

_No. I don't. I'm not that important for him to do something like that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I think I'm useless. That would be whining in the extreme. I'm just saying that in a fight against Aizen, I won't be able to see straight, so it would be best not to go swinging my sword around when I don't know where I'm aiming. So, I should train more to at least try and figure out _some _way to beat him. I'm not strong enough to beat him now, so what can I do other than try to get stronger?_

_**I'm not too fond of this particular brand of pessimism.**_

_Alright, then._ I said gently, _Let's move to lighter things, then. What did you think of Shihoin's second idea to give them training swords?_

I could practically see Hyourinmaru frown, _**I don't like it. As of right now, the students really have no idea what they're dabbling in. To them it's just a secretive form of eastern magic.**_

_We could tell them after we get attacked._

_**Hmm?**_

_If we get attacked by Arrancar, and it's on the school property, at that point the cat is out of the bag so we might as well tell them about the whole dead thing. And do our best to utterly _terrify _them so that they don't go telling people._

_**Yamamoto will be a problem . . . either he won't like it, or he'll want to use them as an army.**_

_Yeah. . . oh well, there is no way to tell how Yamamoto will react, so we'll cross that bridge when we get there._

_**What brilliant foresight.**_

_Hey!_

_**I'm just saying, it might be something you want to plan out.**_

_You're not one to talk mister 'let's just freeze that annoying neighbour solid'. Alright then, do you have any opinions-_

I froze, as I felt something on the edge of my senses. It felt like a horcrux. I looked around carefully, but I couldn't see any door or classrooms or anything in any direction. Could it be that the horucrux was back in one of the class rooms I just walked past?

I need to find it.

I turned and walked back down the hall, feeling out for the horcrux. It was so faint it was hard to pinpoint. But as soon as I got partway down the hall, the horcrux grew so faint it was obvious I was walking away from it . . . but that didn't make any sense at all. I turned and walked back down the hall, figuring that it had to be in the other direction.

I need to find it- wherever it is.

But as soon as I got far enough in the other direction, it got fainter again. I growled slightly- that did not make any sense at all. I turned and walked back, wondering if maybe there was a trick of some kind. I stood where it was strongest, and looked around.

There were walls on either side.

_What the hell?_

Damnit. I _really _needed to find it.

And right as I thought that, a door appeared to my right.

_What._

_**The.**_

_Hell._

I sighed, rubbed my forehead to try and get rid of the growing headache (combination of shock, tiredness, and horcruxes trying to take over my mind) before going to push the door open. Inside, there were heaps of things- chairs, old books, potions ingredients, banned toys . . . and is that _porn from the eighteen-hundreds_? Eeeew. I hurriedly turned and walked away.

If the horcrux was under that, I wasn't getting it.

_**I am going to laugh so hard when you hit puberty. So very, very hard. Admittedly, the growth-spurt will be enough to give me tears of joy, but the hormones on the other hand-**_

I snarled slightly, _That is not funny._

_**I think it's hilarious.**_

_Well, your sense of humour has always been dubious._

I frowned and walked towards the end of the hall where there was a small nightstand filled with trinkets and jewellery. Sitting in the middle was a jewelled tiara, it was really a pretty thing- ornate jewel work on it, beautiful patterning in the silver, and what appeared to be a golden lining on the bottom. I wouldn't be surprised if it was worth thousands of dollars.

It also had the most disgusting feeling that I've ever felt. It was practically oozing maliciousness. I set it on the stone floor and materialized Hyourinmaru. One swing and it melted into a heap of precious metal and jewels, and I felt the power of the horcrux disappear.

_**I hope that tiara wasn't worth much.**_

_How much could it be worth if it was left in a room like this? Relax, it's not like it was an ancient wizarding artefact or anything like that- I mean, what would a _tiara _be able to do- grant its owner the ability to know everything? That would be ridiculous._

_**True.**_

I paused and stared at the heap of twisted metal.

_**One more down, only a few more left to go.**_

_We should get the horcrux out of Potter tomorrow. He knows about us know, and our only reason for waiting was because we weren't allowed to tell him about the whole Shinigami thing. It's still technically illegal to meddle with his soul, but at least it's less illegal now._

_**Yeah, you're probably right.**_

I yawned and walked back up the stairs.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**Third Person POV**

In an empty shack, in the middle of nowhere, Tom Riddle- also known as Lord Voldemort- fell to the ground clutching at his head. Aizen Sosuke, the only other person in the room aside from Ichimaru Gin, who was entertaining himself by harassing Nagini, chuckled and said, "Looks like he got another one."

Voldemort hissed, "We'd be able to get _rid _of the stupid, meddling brats if you'd just combine your forces and attack with mine."

"No." said Aizen flatly, "There is still something I am waiting for, and if you attack then you will attack on your own. You only have –including yourself- only five horcrux left. Do you want to risk it on something as foolish as-"

"Four." Voldemort coughed.

"Hmm?"

"I have four horcrux left, not five, looks like you miscalculated." Voldemort said, smug the Shinigami traitor had finally made a mistake.

Gin looked up from Nagini, the smirk still on his face, "Aizen-taicho doesn't make many mistakes, Voldy-wart. Iffin he says ya got five of 'em horcrux, then ya got five of 'em."

Aizen smirked, "Which means you made one by accident. My, my, how fragile your soul must be if it splits after one good hit."

"That didn't happen, you think I wouldn't notice if my own soul split? You fool." Voldemort righted himself, now recovered from the loss of another bit of Soul.

Aizen chuckled, "It's already so damaged, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't manage to ignore it. It's like getting a finger cut off from a hand already severed from your body."

"I still would have noticed."

"You were probably preoccupied with something else . . . something like, dying, for example."

Voldemort's eyes widened and Gin laughed, "I think he mighta finally figured it out, Taicho."

"I think he might have too. So, Voldemort, now that you know Harry Potter is the last horcrux, how do you want to deal with it?"

Gin leaned back over the chair to grin at Voldemort, "Iffin I were you, I'd have some fun with 'im. Lil' Shiro-chan ain't gonna wait much longer ta get rid of it, he's probably jus' all worried 'bout not hurtin' Harry-chama. So it'd probably be best ta' use it fast."

Aizen Sosuke grinned, "I have a plan, Voldemort, if you're willing to try it."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I got up into the dormitory and frowned, seeing that Harry was passed out asleep on the couch. Should I wake him up and make him go sleep in his actual bed, or should I just leave him? He must have had a pretty hard time getting to sleep. If I woke him up, would he be able to get back to sleep again.

Potter twitched and let out a tiny whimper.

I guess if he's having a nightmare he's not sleeping properly anyways, so there is probably no harm in waking him up. I walked over and shook his shoulder gently.

"Potter." I whispered, "You're dreaming, wake up."

Harry's eye's flew open and I stepped back.

"You all right?" I asked quietly.

He nodded, not meeting my eyes, "Yeah. I guess so."

I frowned at his expression, and felt that the aura of the horcrux was stronger than usual, but pretended not to notice.

It had occurred to me that since all of the other Soul Fragments had had to be destroyed by destroying the container, Potter's was probably the same. In other words, the only way I knew how to destroy them now was by destroying the container . . . which was in the particular case Potter's Soul.

I didn't think destroying that was such a good idea, so for now I focused on trying to figure out how they were made so I could figure out a way to undo it.

Needless to say, that information wasn't easy to get, so it was taking me a while. Kisuke was working on it too, but from a research and development perspective.

He wasn't having much luck either.

"Alright. You might want to head up to bed, then. It's late."

Harry yawned and rubbed his eyes, "What time?"

"About two or three in the morning."

"Why are you still up then-" he looked up, "Jeez, Toshiro- what happened to you?!"

I stared blankly. "Ummm . . . what do you mean?"

"What do you mean 'what' you're covered in dirt and it looks like someone was beating on you!"

Understanding dawned, "Oh. I was just training. Really, in terms of injuries, this is minor. I'll be mostly healed by tomorrow."

". . ."

"Trust me."

"Fine, fine. Jeez. You might want to tell Professor Shihoin to lay off, though."

I laughed, "Che. As if she'd ever listen. Go to bed, Potter."

"Fine, fine. See you in the morning."

"See you." I turned to walk up the stairs, and Harry paused. I frowned, "What is it?"

". . . Nothing." Harry said.

Even I could tell it was a lie, but he knew there was nothing I could do about it right now. Potter would tell me when he was ready to.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next morning I got up a little early, first off to take a shower and get rid of all the dirt, and secondly to check my arm and make sure that there was no sign of a serious injury. Bruises were okay, as long as that old toad Umbridge didn't know how many of them that I had.

After that I went down to breakfast, I was _starving_.

All that was left was to go down to Professor Umbridge's office to talk to her about the whole flash-step thing. I was hoping that I wouldn't seriously screw this up somehow- she was a paranoid, horribly bigoted and small minded individual who had a massive ager management issue.

And a great deal of that anger was- rightfully- directed at me.

And she didn't even know about the pranks I had been setting a few days ago.

I got down to the office and knocked on the door. It was eight, and the first class was at eight thirty, so I should be able to talk to her now.

She opened the door and one of those ridiculously fake grins split her face.

"Ah, Mr. Hitsugaya- what do I owe the pleasure of your visit to?"

"Professor Urahara and Professor Shihoin were wondering if you would be willing to allow them to teach a new branch of studies for the kido class. They would have come themselves, but they were afraid that if they did then it would be considered too official. It really just is an idea in the making right now."

Umbridge's eyes lit up, and I frowned.

For someone who hates all form of Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, she looked _way _too happy.

"Why- that sounds like a wonderful way to take advantage of the wonderful cultural exchange we have here. Do come in and explain more."

_**Why do I get the feeling that when she says 'Would you like to have a seat in my office?' she's actually saying the equivalent of 'Would you like some candy? Just come into my big, white van with tinted windows.'**_

_Because she probably has, at some point in her life, lured some poor sap into her office and killed them._

I nodded politely, "That would be nice."

She gestured to a chair and I walked in and sat down, she started shuffling around the back of the room, "Would you like some tea, dear, or pumpkin juice?"

I shook my head, "No thank-you, Professor, I just had breakfast, so I'm fine."

_**You think she's going to try to drug you?**_

_Absolutely._

Umbridge nodded, "Well, how about I give you a glass of pumpkin juice, just in case."

"Umm . . . sure."

_**How are you going to get rid of it.**_

_I'll just pretend to drink it and evaporate the juice away slowly. Or maybe I just won't touch it and hopefully she won't notice._

She turned her back to me so I couldn't see what she was doing, and then handed me a glass. I scanned it briefly with my reiatsu- there was _definitely _something in it. I set it down on the table, and she said, "So- what is it that your teachers wish to teach?"

"Well, we've noticed that the Ministry has been trying to lessen the amount of offensive magic that has to be taught to students. One of the most common forms of magic we teach back in Japan is something called 'hoho' or the ability to move quickly. To put it into layman's terms, it makes it so that you can run away from things really, really fast so that no fight will ever have to take place. It is relatively harmless, although we wanted to make sure that you were okay with it since it _does _involve physical conditioning and training, which might be taken the wrong way if one weren't aware of the full situation."

Umbridge nodded slowly, "That seems . . . reasonable. Although, I will admit it is rather odd that now of all times you transfers are willing to side with the Ministry. Up until now, you have disagreed with me. Quite vocally."

I faked a grin, and hoped it looked a little more realistic, and a little less . . . terrifying than her grin did, "That was me. This is the two _Professors _proposing the class. While I can't say I agree with them when they help you, they are still the ones in charge and I have to listen to what they tell me to do. And they felt like it would be a good idea to breach the subject to you first, so that you could make sure it complied with the Ministry's current plan of action."

She nodded again, "Alright- I will consider it. Is there anything else I should know about?"

"Just that Urahara-sensei and Shihoin-sensei would like to eventually talk to you about it."

_**I'm pretty positive that the two of them **_**never **_**want to talk to her**_**.**

"Well, I'm sure we'll be able to talk out a good time. Tell them I'm grateful for their consideration."

"I will." I stood up, "If you don't mind, Professor, I should probably get going to class."

She frowned, "You aren't going to drink that juice?"

I tried to think of an excuse, ". . . ummm . . . I would love to, and I don't want to be rude . . . but I really need to get going to class. I don't want to be late."

I turned and quickly left the classroom, "Thank you for your time professor Umbridge!"

As soon as I was down the hallway I let out a sigh of relief- thank goodness that was over. I hated talking to people I didn't like.

Especially if they were trying to drug me at the same time.


End file.
